Shattered Souls: The 82nd Hunger Games
by VeneratedArt
Summary: The Rebellion failed and the Districts were hit harder than ever before, the Capitol had total rule over the Districts once again. All hope seems lost, and 24 tributes are being sent into the 82nd Hunger Games. After the utter failure for the Games a few years previous, will this be any different? (CLOSED SYOT!)
1. Introduction!

He _had_ to makes these Games good. The previous Games were so eventful that many of the Capitol's citizens began to expect more of him, for the next Games. Some tribute from District 4 had won, showing all of her training, and at such at a pretty young age. It was going to be hard to beat, he needed to make it even better, to beat her Games. So now, he needed to make these Games _really_ good. 'He' being Magnus Baxwoll, the Head Gamemaker.

Mangus needed these Games to improve his reputation. His popularity. His fame in the Capitol. He had been the Head Gamemaker for 4 years and was 36, a fairly young age for a Head Gamemaker. He had been extremly stressed about making these Games bigger and better, it completely burned him out. He couldn't let this year become a repeat of last year, he needed to make them bigger, better. If it was a failure, something boring, he would lose his job. Much more than his job, he would lose his life. This was the risk he took though. So Magnus had to be prepared to deal with the consequences.

But finally, **finally** , it struck him! He had it. He knew what he would do, what would happen. This would be exciting. He had to actually stop himself from letting out a little giggle of happiness. If this all worked out, his life was safe for another year.

 _ **Hey everyone! As you know, this is an SYOT! I am honestly excited for this, and can't for you all to send in tributes! So go ahead and send some in if you want, the form is on my profile and I will be putting up the Tribute List soon!**_

 _ **That's all for now!**_


	2. Prologue: A Dreading Victor

_**Hey everyone! I apologize for being so inactive lately, I became suddenly very busy and hadn't time to update! I wanted to let you all know there is still quite a good few spots left open and I do want them to fill up! If need be, I will put in a few tributes of my own, for some bloodbaths. But yeah, please do keep submitting! I have three districts filled, but there is still 9 districts left to fill! Besides that, I think I may have a form to submit mentors for the tributes going in, and it could add to points for the Games. Otherwise, that's all really from me, I do hope to start the reapings soon! Make sure to review what you think of this chapter and Tulle, I will probably be using her as a mentor!**_

 __ **Tulle Hemp, Victor of 78th Hunger Games POV**

I peer out the window of the living room of my home. The home I had lived in for approximately 4 years. Four years previous, I had been reaped for the 78th Hunger Games, at the age of seventeen. It was an appalling experience the entire time. I was completely convinced that I was never going to return to District 8 as soon as I boarded the train. I felt nauseous the entire time I spent at the Capitol. Even my interview hadn't gone well. I hardly got any applause by the end of it, I knew very well that the citizens of the Capitol were not impressed with me and that they were all confident that I would have been a bloodbath tribute. I was myself.

It was a major shock for me when I managed to escape the bloodbath, I had just dashed for my life, praying with all my strength that I would make it past the bloodbath during the countdown. The arena was giant, at the being it was nothing but tall cornfields, taller than every tribute. None of us could see each other or where they were going. And the only opening, clear opening was the Cornucopia. I knew that if I had dared run towards it I would have ensured my death. But the arena wasn't just all cornfields, it slowly became a thick forest, with jungle like features in some places. I had bearly survived with hardly any food or water. I was so very lucky to have survived. I had won my Games by hiding, staying hidden. When I was taken out of the arena after winning, I could bearly keep my eyes open. I was malnourished and dehydrated. It was pure agony. And despite this all, those Games were referred to as _'boring'_ from then on.

I had dreams most nights about the Games, mine mostly, rarely others. Both good and bad. Ever since then, I had been a mentor for District 8's tributes. Forced to sit up with the mayor of the District and watch children be reaped, each year I would give them worthless advice about how they could survive their Games, how they could make it out alive. And each year with tributes was the same. For 2 years, District 8's tributes had died in the bloodbath or soon afterwards. But last year there had been a ray of hope when District 8's male made it past a week in the Games. He had made it into the Final Five too. I had faith in him that he would make it out, that he would win the Games. My faith was shattered when District 4's female stabbed him twice in the stomach and slit his throat. She went on to win those Games, and I felt utterly disgusted she had. I had gotten my hopes up for nothing, they were shattered.

I snapped out of my thoughts eventually and dragged myself out of bed, pulling on some soft and warm clothes before going downstairs to eat some breakfast. I struggled to get up when the Reapings drew close. They were a week away and I didn't want to return to the Capitol just to watch children die again. I avoided going there as much as possible. I didn't like the people of the Capitol much, they were far too flamboyant for my liking, but I did not dislike them either. I just got the feeling I first got when I arrived there during my Games, whenever I arrived there. So I would remain in my District as much as possible. I wanted the Games to arrive to get it over and done with, but at the same time, I never wanted them to arrive. They were always full of something I hated. _The Games would always be full of_ _death_.


	3. Chapter 3 - District One Reapings

_**A/N: As you all can see, I've started the reapings! I don't actually need many tributes, I just need 4 males! If I don't get enough, I might make or use some tributes of mine and put them in the districts and use them as bloodbaths. But hopefully you guys will submit so I can do all the reapings without having to wait to long!**_

 _ **District 1**_

 _ **Bravo Luxe, Aged 17**_

This was the life, wasn't it? Living in one of the most wealthiest villages in District One. _The_ best district, at least to myself. I pitied the other districts a little, but not much. They just had to deal with it and move on with making what they were supposed to. I lived with my father, Ronald Luxe. He was in the Council of One, which contributed to the fact of why I lived so extravagantly. I had no heart shattering backstory, nothing that truly mattered anyways. My parents were divorced and because of this I spent weekdays with my father and weekends with my mother. It didn't bother me much, I just carried on. There was a dark point in my life about two years ago though, when my brother Almas was killed in the Games. He had been so close to winning, he had got into the Final Four. But in the end, that girl from Five won. Almas and I were quite different in a few aspects. He was cocky, was an entertainer and looked for any way to get attention in order to get sponsors. I just wanted to win the Games. No matter what. I had alwyas been somewhat jealous of the attention he got. Because he was older which meant he could volunteer first, which my parents loved to focus on. But my family was upset and both my parents went into a state of depression, but it was nothing serious, nothing that would cause me to lose them. At first they would hardly speak, they were clearly traumatized by losing their eldest son. But the recovered and are much better than before.

I had always been fascinated with the Games, just like my brother. We had both always dreamed of becoming Victors to make our parents proud but also for the reason of having the title Victor of the _ Hunger Games. I trained long and hard with Almas and our father encouraged us, he wanted us to succeed and supportive of what we wanted to do, like most children from District One. My mother didn't support us as much as our father did, she disliked the idea of her children learning to kill but when Almas was in his Games, she seemed to adore the attention he got by killing off weaker tributes, how her son made them scream in utter pain. Ever since Almas had died, I began to train more, become stronger. I had lost several of my friends that I trained with after he died but I didn't have time for them anymore.

Some would call me manipulative, but I thought of myself more as 'charming' or 'stubborn'. I just only wanted what I could get from others, who wouldn't do that? I was only trying to benfit myself. In a world like this, who wouldn't do so? It was a part of the reason I had lost some friends of mine. And when I entered that arena, I wouldn't change for anyone just because of where we were. I would just use and delude my allies, simple as that.

Today is the day of the Reaping. The day many Districts dreaded but ours, Two and Four absolutely worshiped. I rolled in my bed as I heard my father call for me to get up since the reapings were in an hour. I always managed to sleep in on Reaping Day, every year. But this year was especially important. This was the year I would volunteer. I was within the normal age limit for volunteers as I was seventeen. My name had been selected at the Choosing Ceremony many months before. I had been training as hard as I could once I was choosen. I wouldn't fail my District. I wouldn't fail my parents. I wouldn't make mistakes like Almus did. I would win the 82nd Hunger Games. I sighed and sleepily called back to Father that I was awake and getting ready. I needed to look my best. I wanted to win these Games and a very helpful way to survive was to look good for sponsors. I dragged myself out of bed sluggishly and walked into the bathroom and take a glance around the room before turning on a steamy shower for myself and once stripped down, climb in and clean myself up. Finishing cleaning myself fifteen minutes later, I get out and dry off, taking a look in the mirror once I was finished. My mother said I was a handsome person and I did agree with her. I was good enough looking.I had short hair, it was brown with subtle blonde streaks going through it. It was shaved at either side of my head and I almost always styled my hair in a left cropped style. My eyes were a deep colour of green which was useful when it came to staring down people. I stood at the height of 6"2 and on my chest, unlike many guys that volunteered, had a tattoo on my chest, reading 'District One Made'. The story behind that was entertaining to say the least. I fixed my hair into its usual style before wrapping a towl tightly around my waist and heading back out to my room and exmaine what clothes I would wear.

After a through examination of my closet and many sighs of annoyance, I finally decided on looking a little simple. Maybe surprising the Capitol would be a better idea than presenting myself like any usual volunteer. I eventually picked an outfit to wear which consisted of a blue polo shirt, khakis and some sperry's. I took one more glimpse of myself in my bathroom mirror and took one deep breath. After that, I left to go downstairs to finally join my father, who had already served up breakfast for me. A delicious looking fry up, with fried eggs, bacon, beans and some toast. He plonked myself down onto the closest chair and began to dine on the food in front of me.

"Honestly Bravo, wouldn't you choose something a little more..formal for the occasion? First impressions matter, you know that well." Father commented, watching me from across the table with an unimpressed expression on his face.

"Hey, I'm the one who's volunteering here, I get to choose what I wear to the Reaping. And I chose this, leave it at that." I retorted, raising an eyebrow at him before staring back down at my food.

My father rolled his eyes at me but left the topic at that, going back to reading the newspaper he had in his hands. Things were silent for a good few minutes before I spoke up again.

"Will Mother be meeting us before the Reaping? Or afterwards?"

Father didn't even look up from what he was reading, just smiling ever so slightly as I spoke to him.

"Afterwards. She will be with me to say our goodbyes to you before you leave to show the Capitol what you've got."

Smiling proudly, I finished my breakfast and stretched my muscles, picking up my plate and giving it a quick wash before I noticed the time. I needed to hurry, the Square was a ten minute walk from here and I didn't want to be late, even though I had plenty of time.

"Well, I'm going to start walking to the Square so I'm not late." I announced nonchalantly.

Father sighed and stood up, putting down the newspaper and looking me straight in the eyes, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"You will do great son." He said, patting my shoulder. "Now, go. I will meet you later with your mother."

I nodded and continued to don a proud smile, leaving the house and taking a glance back at it. This wouldn't be the last time I saw my home. I know I would return home alive. I was confident I was. I turned away and strolled towards the Square. Once I arrived, I knew that showing up early was a good idea as the place was already beginning to fill up. I stood patiently in line until my finger is pricked and they take my blood. It doesn't even bother me anymore, I just quickly suck away the blood and make my way over to the seventeen year-old boys section. I kept a relaxed expression on, though deep down, I was slightly nervous about this. But the motivation and confidence crashed over the nervousness, drowning it out. I could do this easy. I remained in my thoughts until the Mayor of District One came out of the Justice Hall, along with Velvet Cross, the Victor of the 72nd Hunger Games. There had been many Victors from here, but lately we hadn't won many Games and other Victors were becoming too old or were dying. So Velvet proudly took up the job of mentoring the two tribute by herself. After the two of them was One's escort, Althea Lascius. She was wearing a rather odd outfit. She looked as if she was trying to start a winter trend in the summer. Her dress stuck out in random places and looked like it was sharp enough to be lethal. She clearly was trying to intimidate ice, making it look like she was wearing a dress made of ice. It look like a tight dress and it only went down to her knees. She was pale as paper which as a little worrisome. Her hair was a pale, light blue colour and her makeup looked like she had gotten snowflakes and stuck them onto her cheeks, eyes and lips.

"Welcome, all! To the Annual 82nd Hunger Games Reaping! Let's begin, shall we?"

 _ **Magmia Firestone-Ruby, Aged 17**_

"Come on Magmia, give it all you got! Push yourself! Try harder!"

I keep fighting, trying with all my strength to beat my opponent, using double swords. They were the weapons that I was most skilled with and I almost always use them when training, unless Topaz forced me to use something else.

"Fight! Come on, push it! Do you want to be a Victor or not!" Topaz yelled loudly as I fought.

Finally, I take down my competitor with a grin of trimpuh as I do so. I have a sword either side of her throat and finally look up at Topaz to see a proud look on her face. I knew I had done well. I moved off the person I was fighting and move the swords away from her neck, shaking her hand after helping her up. This person was, in fact, my best friend, Jewelia Ambers. We had met in school a very long time ago and ever since then we had been inseperable. Jewelia was the complete opposite of me. She was sarcastic, firey, and a daredevil. She screamed 'Victor' to others, many expected her to be a volunteer when she turned eighteen. Shy, modest and I didn't care what others think. I was nothing like her though which was why many people were surprised when they found out we were best friends.

"Jeez Mag, you really didn't hold back. I might have broken a bone, oooh noooo!" Jewelia joked, grinning widely as she gripped her elbow in fake pain.

"Oh grow up." I pushed her jocularly and rolled my eyes at her.

"You did well training today Magmia." Topaz says with a soft smile on her face. "You will win these Games for sure, I have no doubt about it."

Topaz was my trainer here at the Training Center but she was also my sister-in-law. She was a Victor and at the age of 23, she was pretty rich. My sister, Emerald, was married to her brother, Aster. And because of this, we all lived as a large family in the Victor's Village. It was a cozy home and we all managed to fit in there some how. But Topaz always desired to have another Victor in the family. And because I was the only one who was still within Reaping age limits, she began to train me to become one. At the beginning of my training, I despised it and didn't want to continue. But Topaz persuaded me to continue and eventually I learned to love training with her. It brought us closer as family and built a strong bond between us. After a while of training, I suggested to her that Jewelia could train with us. It would benefit all of us that way. And it had.

"Now, go on you two! Go clean yourselves up, the Reapings are in an hour and I don't want our future Victor or their best friend showing up smelling like sweat and all red." Topaz never meant anything she said in an insulting way, you just always knew when she was joking around.

I nod and thank Topaz for our last bit of training before leaving with Jewelia, walking towards the Victors Village. We talk and chat about the Reapings, about what life will be like once I return after winning the Games. About when I had been chosen at the Choosing Ceremony. Along with a handsome boy who looked about my age. I waved her goodbye once we reached my house and told her to meet me just before the Reapings. I sighed and walked into the house, tossing down my training gear onto the floor. "I'm home!" I yelled before making my way upstairs and to my room. It was decorated beautifully and thankfully it was all just for me. I didn't have to share with anyone else.

The first thing I did was look to see what I would be wearing for the Reaping so I wouldn't take forever deciding when I came out of the shower. It had happened once when I was thirteen and was extremely embarrassing as I was almost late to the Reapings. I opened up by closet and began to search for something nice to wear. After about fifteen minutes of scanning through my clothes, I chose a white, short sleeved button up blouse and a black skater skirt. I could pick the accessories later. Once I picked my outfit, I went and turned on the shower, climbing in and cleaning myself off. I took my time, washing and cleaning my hair along with the rest of my body. I finished up showering and dried myself off and dried my hair, going out to put on my outfit at last. I slid on the clothes and braided my hair into a V braid, and added a black bow into my hair, looking in the mirror I had in my room for when I did my makeup for special occasions after I finished it. I had thick, wavey light brown hair that went all the way down to my waist. It was troublesome at times, but I handled my hair well most of the time. I had almond shaped, grey eyes with thick eyelashes. People was complimented me on them as they thought I was wearing fake eyelashes or had mascara on, but they were just natural. I was slim and slender since I was athletic but I did have curves too. I had a nose piercing and earrings, which I changed to match my outfit. And the last thing, that nobody really knew, was that I was missing a molar at the back of my mouth. I had lost it when I was thirteen and I had fallen, causing it to break. Eventually, they just removed the whole thing and I had been without it since.

I looked at my reflection, satisfied with my appereance. I got up and put on some black flats before going downstairs and checking the time. Ten minutes until the Reaping. I could do without food until after. I couldn't be late, no matter how tempting Mom's baking was. She adored baking, and always had something made. I knew that my family would visit me afterwards so I just left the house, making my way to the Sqaure at a quick pace. I hurried a little but found Jewelia waiting for me as I got there. We got our blood taken and both made our way to the seventeen year-old girls section, grins on our faces. It was finally happening. In no time at all, the Reapings began. Our Mayor came out along with Velvet Cross, and One's escort, Althea, behind them. She always had a new type of style each year, it was outstanding how different she would look every time we saw her.

"Welcome, all! To the Annual 82nd Hunger Games Reaping! Let's begin, shall we?" Althea announced loudly with a perky voice. It almost made me laugh how excited she sounded.

We watched the video they always played at each reaping, basically to inform the twelve year-olds what was happening, if they didn't know already. Thankfully and finally, it ended and Althea turned to the crowd, beaming.

"Oh, so exciting! Let's start then, shall we? We'll start first with the ladies." She said and made her way over to the girls bowl in her scarily tall and thin heels. She dunked her hand in and after a few moments pulled out a name. She walked back to the microphone with the same beaming smile and opened up it up, annoucing the name.

"Radiance Wins-"

"I VOLUNTEER!"

I didn't even bother letting her finish, I glanced over at Jewelia and she couldn't stop smiling, egging me on. I kept a straight but confident look on my face as I made my way out of the seventeen year-old section and up to the stage. Once there, I was led by Althea to the center.

"And what is your name darling?"

I looked confident and kept my voice steady as I spoke, looking out to the crowd.

"My name is Magmia Firestone-Ruby and I promise you that I will be District One's next Victor!" I said proudly.

"Oooh, how lovely, and such a beautiful name!" Althea clearly seemed to like me, which was great. It was what I needed.

"Now, let's move onto the boys!"

Althea didn't take long to pull a name out of the boy's bowl, making her way back towards me and the microphone. She opened it up and read out the name, interrupted quickly.

"Price A-"

"I volunteer!" Called a deep voice from the seven year-old sections for the boys. Quickly, the boy that had been chosen as One's male volunteer made his way up to the stage. He strutted up, with clear confidence but remained relaxed.

"And your name is?" Althea asked once he was to her left.

"Bravo Luxe. Trust me, District One, I will stop at nothing to win these Games!" He said smoothly with a slight smirk on his face."

"Well, there we have it! Our male and female tributes from District One! Bravo Luxe and Magmia Firestone-Ruby!"

The crowd all applauded as I shook hands with my partner and were brought inside the Justice Hall.

 _ **Bravo Luxe, Aged 17**_

I was led into a room for my goodbyes after I shook hands with my District partner. She seemed like she was confident, she must have known things. She would be helpful in the arena, but she was one to watch too. I was soon snapped out of my thoughts as the door opened and my parents walked in. They looked at me with such honored expressions. I was going to make them proud. I already had so far. My mother walked over to me and hugged me tightly, beaming brightly.

"Oh Bravo, well done! I'm so proud of you darling, I'm so proud." She told me, wiping a few tears of joy away.

"You did well son. Not even the slightest look of fear was on your face." My father hugged me too and I couldn't but grin and hug them back.

"I know, I know. Don't get sappy now, that's for the weak." I told them, looking self assured.

"Here," My mother said, handing me a small picture. "Take this as your token."

I glanced down at it to see what it was and smiled weakly at it. It was a picture of Almas and I when we first started training. I hugged my parents again, this time tighter than before. "I will win these Games, just like I said, I promise. I won't make the mistakes Almas made." I told them before the Peacekeeper's opened the door, telling us our time was up. My parents looked at me one last time, they looked pleased with what I had done before they had the door closed behind them as they left. I would make them proud. I would win this.

 _ **Magmia Firestone-Ruby, Aged 17**_

I sat down on a comfortable looking chair as I was escorted into a room to say my goodbyes. I couldn't stop smiling to myself. I had actually done it, I volunteered. Now all I had to do was win, which wouldn't be too hard. After a few minutes, my family entered the room. My Mom, Dad, Emerald, Aster and, of course, Topaz. They all contragulated me on how well I did, and about how proud of me they were. My mom and Emerald were a little worried about me, concerned about if they would see me again. Everyone reassured them I would return. I was strong, I could do this easily.

"All of our training is finally going to pay off Mag. You can do this, we'll be rooting for you back here. Rip those tributes to sherds, show the Capitol who their next Victor will be!" She said encouragingly, squeezing me tightly as she hugged me.

I laughed and tried to squirm away from her, grinning. My family truly did love me and wanted the best for me. I wanted the best for them. Once I won, we would have another house in the Victor's Village, and it would make more room for all of us.

"Hey, calm down would you? You're going to kill me before I even get into the arena with all your squeezing!"

"Sorry, I'm just so proud of you! Go get them!"

We all talked about what would happen until our time was up and my family was led out, all beaming with happiness. The next people to come in were Jewelia and Crystelle Simple. Crystelle was the daughter of Topaz's best friend. We met through her. We weren't as very close, but we talked and hung out a good bit.

"You did great Mag! I'll get to see you in the arena, killing all the weak tributes! But I can't wait for you to come back though." Jewelia hugged me just as tightly as Topaz had and I hugged her back before looking at Crystelle as she spoke to me.

"It'll be so exciting! I cannot wait to see you in the Parade and the interviews! I already know you are going to look gorgeous! Oh, this will be great!"

She clearly was all about fashion, as we all knew, but Crystelle has a heart and was a kind-hearted person. Most people liked that about her.

"I know guys, I know! I can't wait to use the training I've done to use. I can win this, I know it. It won't be hard, I've got everything planned out. I have since I was chosen." I told them proudly.

And it was true, I did have everything planned out. I had my entire strategy for the Games, for training, interview, everything. I knew what to do, now all I had to do was go through with it. After another minute of talking about the Games, the girls were taken back out by the Pacekeepers. I waved them goodbye and told they I would see them soon and sat back down to take it all in. This would be exciting.

 _ **A/N: So there we have it! The first reapings! Thank you so much to the victor of panem and RedRoses2000 for these tributes, they were exciting and fun to write and I do hope I portrayed them well! So what do you all think of them? Like them? Hate them? Tell me what you all think about this chapter! I apologize that Magmia's goodbyes were longer, she had more family and friends and I needed to fit them in! Anyways, as for updates, I will be updating either every week or every two weeks, depending on my free time and if I'm not too busy! So, I will see you all next time for District 2's Reapings!**_


	4. Chapter 4 - District Two Reapings

_**Warning: This chapter contains swearing and mentions of prostitution.**_

 _ **District 2**_

 _ **Augustus Arum, Aged 18**_

"I told you to train harder, what the hell was that?" My father grumbled at me, watching as I trained with my siblings.

This happened every single day, we woke up around six in the morning, got some breakfast and immediately would begin training. Octavia, Nero and I would train our hardest every day, we would push ourselves to our limits to prove we could be Victor's to our was determined to have more in our family, being one himself. He had won the 60th Hunger Games at the age of 18, like many of the volunteers in our District. He wasn't always like this, slurred drunken speech and forcing his children to become Victors. He used to be a kind man, someone who dearily loved his family. But then our mother died. When she died, my father was devastated. He had lost his soulmate. She was only thirty-one, it was an accident. She wasn't murdered, there was nothing like that. She had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck, dying because of it. We were all heartbroken but from that day forth, our father was never the same again. He changed.

"Fight! You aren't going to win if you hesitate!" He yelled at Nero and I, since we were training together at the time, doing hand-to-hand combat.

I focused on seeing my brother as only another tribute and punched him harshly in the stomach before tackling him to the ground, gripping him by his throat. But I only stayed like that for the total of two seconds before moving off of Nero and helping him up.

"You okay bro? That was a pretty hard punch you got." I asked, smiling at him.

Nero just nodded, clearly winded by the blow. I could hear my father sneer at us as he took another swig from his bottle of beer. When didn't he have one in his hand? Oh, that's right, when he occasionally hit us.

"You won' stand a chance against the other Careers when you have ta' fight. They're gon' see you as weak." He commented with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

I just rolled my eyes at him and pat Nero on the back, slightly concerned for my brother. He would be fine though, he had gotten nastier hits from me while training, even from Octavia. This would be fine, he would be over it within a half an hour.

"Now get outta my face, I don' wanna look at either of you anymore. I gotta train Octavia some more." Our father grunted, as he made his way over to Octavia, who been training the whole time.

We could hear him begin to point out all the flaws he saw in her training, telling her to improve. I gave my sister a sympathetic look before I walked out of the training room with Nero. Nero mumbled something inaudible under his breath towards our father as we made our way out, glaring back at him. We had about an hour until the Reaping, so we needed to make ourselves presentable. I took a deep breath and sighed though, one thought on my mind. One hour. One hour until I volunteered. And once I won and returned, I could take Nero and Octavia away from our monster of a father. Once and for all. I left Nero to go upstairs as I got went into the kitchen quietly and got a snack to eat. I was the one who took care of my siblings, not our parent. He would pretty much ignore us if it wasn't for his obsession with training. But because of this obsession, Octavia wanted to prove herself to our father. If she won the Hunger Games, maybe her loving father would come back. That wouldn't happen. We lost him forever. But Nero and I had made a deal with each other that if one were to die in the Games, to stop Octavia from ever volunteering. Losing her would break us.

I wasn't sweating thankfully, so I had no need to go fro a shower. Maybe that's why Father didn't think we were training hard enough, because we weren't sweating. A ridiculous thought. I did a few warm downs and cooled down from my last training session with _him._ I walked upstairs and into my room, just across from Nero's. I could hear him on the phone to who I only assumed was his girlfriend, Claudia. It was almost repulsive how much the two were in love. But they were made for each other, they deserved each other. And it was another reason as to why I didn't want Nero to go into the Games.

"Get changed Nero, we have the Reapings and I don't think Claudia wants to meet her boyfriend all crazy-looking!" I called, chuckling a little afterwards as Nero went silent in his room. Then he just begins talking again, certainly embarrassed.

I take a quick look through my clothes and consider wearing something fancy, something extravagant, but decide against it. In the end, I choose a plain blue shirt and some plain black pants. Nothing too fancy. Formal enough to look like I'm trying, but not too hard. I smile to myself, feeling confident about myself. I knew I could get sponsors for how I looked, I was well aware I was a good-looking person. I had wavy, mahogany brown hair with grey-blue eyes. I had fairly tanned skin, freckles on my face and had broad shoulders. I was toned and muscly for my age due to the extensive training with our father. Sometimes it was handy that we trained so much, but it could be dreadful at other times. But all in all, I was athletic and suave looking man.

Making my way back downstairs, I stretch my arms behind my head, a relaxed smile resting on my face. "See you guys after the Reapings! I'm going to go find Romulus and Livia!" I called as I opened the front door, shutting it pretty quickly.

I made my way out of the Victor's Village, not even bothering to look back as I walked towards the Square. I had told Romulus and Livia to meet me there. One I arrived, I could see a few people already signing, clearly paranoid about being late. It wasn't too hard to find my two friends with the little amount of people around at the time. Mostly talk about the Games, about our plans for them.

"This will be fun to see, our dear Augustus volunteering this year and Romulus the next after. Real brave." Livia joked, making Romulus scowl at her. He was seventeen, but he trained hard.

"You and I are going to have a lot of fun training next year Romulus." Livia laughed to herself. She was a trainer at the Training Center. Seriously lucky for a nineteen year old to get a job there.

"I don't need your help to train, I could volunteer today if I wanted yo-"

I cut in quickly, staring at him with a serious look. "But you're not going to."

Romulus just rolled his eyes at the two of us, but we knew he didn't mind. He was your typical Career, but he was a sweet guy, deep down. You just needed to get to know him, that's all. By now, the Sqaure was beginning to fill up and as I watched people check in, I spotted Neo and Claudia, along with Octavia and her best friend Julius. I waited for them both to check in, watch Neo make his way to the sixteen year-olds section and Octavia to the fourteen year-old one. I wanted to ensure my siblings were safe and okay. I waved goodbye to Livia and went to check in with Romulus, telling him to meet me to say goodbyes with Livia once the Reapings were finished. He nodded, with a grin on his face and walked off to the seventeen year-old section while I went to the eighteen's one.

Eventually, everyone had arrived and checked in, in their places. The mayor of Two made their way out, along with the mentors who would help the tributes. Brad Stalone and Artemis Eve. Stalone had won the 76th Hunger Games, and Eve had won the 71st. They were both very confident, so at least I would have some good advice. Since there was two, I wouldn't have to share with my District partner either, which could be useful as I could get more information from my mentor. After our mentors, our escort came our, Zedoary Aldjoy. He adored our District and each year would wear something gold or shiny to draw more attention to himself. He had even gotten all of his teeth pulled and replaced them with gold teeth. This year, he had bright, almost glittery looking hair that had clearly been dyed light gold. He has a very reflective, shiny coat that was again, gold. A deeper shade of it though. The jacket looked like it had been forced around him. It just looked far too small. And as for his pants, every part he could, there was glitter, sequins, and reflective material.

"Hello District Two!" He boomed into the microphone. "Welcome to the 82nd Annual Hunger Games!

 _ **Zoe Winter, Aged 18**_

Yelling. It's the first thing I hear as I rise. I could tell who it was and why exactly there was yelling. My father was the leader of a vicious gang called the Skull, and what they did? Of course, was market drugs. They did various other things too, but their main focus was on drugs. If only we had lived like most others in Two. I wasn't rich or spoiled. Instead, my family lived in the slums of District Two. Where each day you would encounter some act of violence. It was honestly horrible. But after being raised in a place like this, you got used to it.

I stretched as I climbed out of my stiff bed, yawning a little, dreading to go to the kitchen because of the yelling. Our house wasn't far off from being called a shack. But it was still something, a roof over our heads. I ignored all of the yelling and made my way out of my bare room and into the kitchen, greeted by my father's roars at his men and my mother quietly sitting there, drinking some warm water. Walking by Richard, I refused to call him Dad, and his men, I payed no attention to the stares I got. I just did what I aimed to do in the kitchen, make some breakfast for myself. With what little food we had. I made some bland, unappealing porridge and sat myself down at the table, beside my mother.

"Can't you men do a single goddamn thing right?! I tell you to go sell those fuckin' drugs, and what do you do? Almost get goddamn caught, that's what!" Richard screamed, furious.

I had to hold back a sneer at the thought of them getting caught. It would be brillant to see them get caught, get locked up for what they had all been doing. But if they were caught, I would be forced to return to roaming the streets and earning money through my body. And I loathed it. I would never return to doing so unless our situation was dire, or if I was forced to as ' _punishment_ '.

"You're supposed to be professional dealers! Professional thieves! Professional assassins! You are all fuckin' disgraces, that's what you are! Now get out of my face, all of you, before I slit your throats." He snarled at them. All of the men clearly knew better than to give back a snide comment or say something sarcastic and left swiftly, leaving just the three of us in the kitchen in silence. Finally, my mother spoke up.

"Zoe, the Reaping is in an hour, why won't you get changed?" She said, her voice quiet and shaky.

"An hour? What time is it?" I raised an eyebrow. It couldn't be that time already, I never slept in so late.

"It's twelve o'clock. Honey, just please go get changed. You don't want to be late."

I just nodded and finished off my porridge, leaving Richard to just wallow in anger and silence with Mom. I walked back to my mostly empty room and glance in the wardrobe. Full of clothes I am disgusted by. Clothes I am made to wear by my father to go out in the streets in. But I knew that first impressions mattered when it came to the Games, especially when you were volunteering. I didn't take long to pick an outfit, I just got the one that would compliment my body the best. I quickly picked a short, tight red dress and wore a leather jacket over it, along with some red flats. I went and looked in my reflection in the grimey and partly shattered mirror in the bathroom. My hair was a shiny black, which was quite long. So I left it down, it looks better that way. My skin was tanned, which suited my dress even more, though it clashed slightly with my bright green eyes. I gazed down at my wrist, and thankfully, the sleeve of my jacket covered a nasty looking scar I had gotten some time ago across my wrist, due to have it slashed by a knife. I took one last look in the mirror and smiled confidently. Today I would volunteer. Today I woud escape this life, whether I returned dead or alive. I walked out, strutting out of the house without saying a word and making my way to the Sqaure. And on my journey towards it, I heard a female voice call out my name.

"Zoe! Slow down, Zoe!"

It was Angelica Turner, my best friend. I had been friends with her since the start of the year, maybe a little before. We had met through her brother, Nathan, who worked for Richard at the time. I had stupidly fallen in love with him, and he had fallen in love with me. He had tried to defend me and convince Richard to be more lenient with me and my behaviour. But it all ended suddenly during a mission. Nathan was shot during a mission and was killed. I was completely heartbroken and when Richard found out, he said I had beytrayed him, making life harder than ever for me. Every time I saw Angelica, I always thought of Nathan, they looked rather similar after all. But I shook my head, snapping myself out of my mind, away from thinking of Nathan.

"Hey Angelica! Can't keep up, huh?" I grinned at her and chuckled as she ran a little to catch up to me.

"Shut up, you." She smiled brightly back at me as we continued to walk at a steady pace. "Ready for the Reaping today?"

"Obviously. I was born ready." I said proudly, joking mostly. "Yeah, I'm ready, let's just hope that name of yours doesn't come out, I'll be too shocked to volunteer." I winked at her afterwards as slight worry crawled onto Angelica's face.

"You don't mean that, right?.."

I sighed, shaking my head and rolling my eyes a little, still smiling. "No, lighten up a little, I was only joking, just trying to brighten the mood."

I pat her back gently, reassuring her everything would be fine. She was one of the few girls in Two who didn't ever plan on volunteering. She had never trained in the Training Center either. And this year was her last year, so once she passed this Reaping, she was free for the rest of her life. As for me, I didn't care anymore. By the time we had reached the Square, it was pretty packed, so we quickly checked in and made our way to the eighteen year-olds girls section. This was it. Today was the day I went into the Hunger Games. I showed those idiots in the Capitol that I was a competitor. We watched intently as the mayor made their way out, followed by Two's mentors, and escort. His outfit hurt my eyes just from looking at it, the sun reflected so much off of it.

"Hello District Two! Welcome to the 82nd Annual Hunger Games! Today, we will choose our male and female tributes! So, before I say anything else, let us watch a video, we made especially for all of you!" He said in his all too chirpy voice.

The usual video played, and I ignored it, more important things going on my mind. Finally, the video ended and the Reapings really began.

"Now, let us begin with... the ladies!" He almost jumped while speaking and I momentarily debated on volunteering, not wanting to spend any amount of time with a freak of a Capitolie like that. Zedoary had a bounce in each step he took towards the girls bowl, his fingers reaching into the large bowl and bearly grabbing anything. Just managing to get a slip. He walked back to the microphone and opened up the slip, he spoke with his usual grin, that hadn't faded the entire time.

"Flavia Curius!"

"I volunteer!"

I yelled at the top of my voice, quickly moving from place and towards the stage, making sure to look relaxed and confident. If I wanted to impress other Career's and the Capitol, I had to look like I knew I was going to win. I didn't need to be guided up to the stage, but two Peacekeepers were walking behind me to ensure I wouldn't suddenly change my mind and try to run. I walked up to the stage, smirking at Zedoary when I finally reached my place.

"What is our lovely volunteer's name?"

"Zoe Winter." I didn't say anything besides that, but made sure to wink directly at the camera. I knew I could do this. I just needed to be smart about the Games, stay alert. Even if I didn't make it out alive, I would be away from the hell I called my life. Zedoary commented something about my name sounding sweet before moving onto the boys, walking over to their bowl and doing the same with what he had for the girls, bearly touching a slip before pulling one out. He walked back to the microphone once again and slowly opened the slip, announcing the name loudly once it was open.

"Romul-"

"I volunteer!" Called a deep voice from the eighteen year-old section, making his way out with a confident strut. He was good looking, like most usual Careers, and could probably contribute to getting sponsors. And sponsors would be some of the people who would be able to keep me alive. He could be useful. Once he was on the stage, he looked directly ahead, almost as if the rest of the crowd didn't matter to him.

"And your name?"

"Augustus Arum."

"Oooh, are you the son of Mars Arum!"

All Augustus did was nod, no emotion on his face by now. Was this guy not going to say anything else? Talk about how he wanted to make his District proud?

"How brillant! His Games are one of my favourites! I expect big things from you!" Zedoary said, too over-excited to actually remember this was being brodcasted. I rolled my eyes, waiting for the idiot to shut up so we could just get on the train and leave. The farther away from District Two we were, the better. The two of us turned to each other and shook each others hands firmly. I looked directly into Augustus' eyes, seeing the determination in them. He would be a challenge. I caught him off guard though when I winked at him, before we were brought into the Justice Building. These Games would be hard. That was for sure.

 _ **Augustus Arum, Aged 18**_

I had finally done it. I volunteered. There was no more talk about it. No more thinking of what would happen. I had actually done it. I made sure to examine my District partner well, as well as I could anyways. I thought she would just keep her distance like most partners usually did. But then she winked. Was.. Was she trying to hit on me or something? I pushed that thought away, I had more important things to think about right now. I was sitting in a beautifully decorated room, waiting for my family. I would do this, for Nero and Octavia. After a good few minutes the door finally opened and I was greeted with Octavia, Nero, and finally my father. I hugged my siblings both quickly, smiling softly at them both. My expression quickly changed as I heard my father speak once again. The scum had shown up drunk. It was typical of him.

"You better goddamn win this boy. I don't want any disgraces in this family. You are gonna be a Victor." He told me, his speeched slurred. I could just smell the alcohol off his breath. I remained stoic, looking at this disgusting man.

"I will come back." Was all I said to him, turning back to my brother and sister. I didn't say much to them, but I made it very clear I loved them. Soon enough, our time was up and Peacekeepers began to lead them back out.

"Nero!" I called as they were being led out. "Whatever happens, we keep our pact!"

He looked back at me with a bit of a worried expression on his face, but he nodded at me and gave me a thumbs up. He would protect our little sister if anything happened. I knew he would.

I sat back down and ran my hand through my hair, sighing deeply. I thought to myself about the name that was going to be called. It wasn't who I thought it was. I didn't hear the surname. And besides, it could be a different name altogether. I glanced up as I heard the door open. Romulus and Livia had entered, both grinning widely.

"You're finally going in dude! You can show your dad up and win this thing!" Romulus said, looking almost too excited, high fiving me. It made me laugh, how his moods could change so quickly sometimes.

"You are going to get through this Augustus, you'll beat the other tributes no problem." She said with an encouraging smile on her face. I knew I could do this. I would them all in mind during the Games. I wouldn't forget any of them.

"I know I am, don't you guys worry about it. After all my training, I better win." I joked, grinning back at the two. I needed to win this. It wasn't 'I should win' anymore. I had to. The rest of the time for visiting, my two friends babbled about how they thought the Games would work out, what the tributes woul be like. I gave them both tight hugs before they left, watching them as the door closed once they had been brought out. This was it. Now, I had to be smart. One mistake, and it could cost me my life.

 _ **Zoe Winter, Aged 18**_

As I was led into my room, I thought for a moment about my parents reaction to me volunteering. I hadn't told anyone but Angelica that I was going to be volunteering. Richard's reaction would be either priceless or infuriating. I sat down and waited, still smiling to myself. I was finally leaving this hell hole. When the doors finally opened, only my mother came in.

"Mom? Where's Richard?" I asked, annoyed that he wasn't with her. I had been looking forward to his reaction.

"He was too busy working with his gang to come to the Reaping. The Peacekeepers are all here so he went to steal some more things."

I could immediately that my mother had been crying. Upset that I had volunteered. Mom and I had never really been close. She was more of a person who just lived in the house. We hardly talked to each other, if alone. So we sunk into silence as I stayed where I was and Mom stood by the door.

"Please darling, make it out alive." She said weakly, just as the doors opened. All I did as nod, watching her as she left. The bastard, Richard. He didn't even bother to show up to the Reaping? At least I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. I scowled to myself until I heard the door open once again and saw Angelica, who was grinning, eyes bright.

"Oh Zoe! I'm going to miss you so much!" She hugged me tightly the moment I stood up, making me chuckle. "You better come back soon, I don't want to be left to be all lonely." Angelica was always so positive. She always made horrible things seem better.

"I'll be back, don't worry. I'm not going to leave you alone for too long, I'm just going for a small while." I giggled a little as I spoke, a little hyper.

"I'll make sure to mention you in my interview so everyone knows who you are, the famous best friend of Zoe Winter, Angelica Turner!" I said with a bright grin, both of us laughing afterwards and hugging once more.

"I believe in you. You can do this. I'll see you soon Zoe." She said, opening the door herself. She didn't need to say anything more. After that, I sat back down with a content look on my face, ready to face whatever was ahead of me. I could win this.

 _ **A/N**_ : _**First of all, I am so sorry updating late! I intended to update on Friday but my week has been very busy and at the start of the week, I could bearly walk as I was in so much pain. I finally can update now though! So here we have District Two! Thank you a bunch to Mistycharming and calebeers21 for these tributes! So what do you all think of them? Do you like them? Think they could win? Tell me what you think the reviews! I'll see you guys in District Three's Reaping!**_


	5. Chapter 5 - District Three Reapings

_**N/A: I am very sorry that I haven't updated last week, I was very sick and then busy with school, so it made it very difficult to even get online! But I am back now and like I said at the start, at latest update at least once every two weeks, if not more!**_

 _ **District 3**_

 _ **Luciana 'Luci' Fern, Aged 15**_

"Exciting, isn't it?" My father says to me, smiling down happily at me as he showed yet another cool invention of his. He had always been a smart man, I admired him for it.

"One day, you will be working here too, I will teach you all I know about technology."

Those final words fade away into my mind as I slowly open my eyes, awakening from my sleep. I had yet another dream about my father. I missed him. But missing wouldn't do much for me, would it? I sighed and stretched sleepily, in an attempt to wake up my body. I pushed my mess of black hair out of my face, not in the mood with dealing with it right now. I searched for a tie and once I had found one, I quickly tied my hair into a fish-tail braid, finally dragging my body out of my bed. It was silent, as always. It usually was most mornings in this house. Silent. I glimpse around my bare room and my eyes catch an outfit hung up on my closet door. It consisted of a white, short-sleeved blouse and a grey pleated skirt. It was rather plain, but then again, I wasn't really somebody who wanted to stand out in the crowd. I knew that there was only one person who could have picked it for me, and that person was my brother, Ki. Ki is twenty-one years of age, with features similar to mine. Like for example, we both had pale, porcelain-like skin as well as thin, pink lips. His hair colour was the exact same shade as me, black. As black as hair could naturally get. The only difference between us was our eyes. His were greener than grey, whereas mine were an ash grey, flicked with hints of green.

I chuckled quietly to myself and stood up, making my way over to the plain outfit and feeling the skirt for a few moments before deciding to change. No point going downstairs and coming back up to get changed. I pulled it on as I slowly began to fully wake up. It didn't take long to get changed and I started to make my way out of my small room and my way downstairs. As I entered the kitchen, I was greeted with the sight of Ki, eating his breakfast with a scowl on his face, something I couldn't resist but laugh at.

"Wow, good morning to you, Mr. Happy Face."

I giggled as I walked by him and glanced into the fridge to see what there was to eat. Nothing seemed very appetising so I just grabbed myself some leftover porridge from the previous day and heated it up quickly in the microwave. I sat myself down at the table across from Ki and dug in, not surprised that my older sister, Megara wasn't down with us. She was hardly ever some. Not that I cared, it made my life easier, I didn't have to deal with her constant teasing and belittlement. She despised me, at least it felt like it, and I felt the very same way about her. She had been like this ever since our mother and father had died. Dad had died because of an 'accident'. I word it like that because we all knew well it wasn't an accident. We had been told that our father had died from being electrocuted at work, but we all knew well that it had happened on purpose. Only days before, he was offered to work as a Gamemaker for the Capitol. He had refused because it meant that he would have to leave the rest of his family behind. It didn't take long for our mother to crack at the realisation of her husbands death, quickly drinking herself to death. When they had died, I was only thirteen. The only reason we weren't homeless was because Ki had bought the house.

"Morning." Ki grumbled, making it clear he was in one of those grumpy moods.

"Bad sleep last night?"

"Horrible. Megara came home at like, three in the morning with two of her friends, only to go at five. I was tempted to go down and kick them all out because they were so loud. Didn't you hear?"

I chuckled to myself at the thought of Megara's face at being kicked out so early in the morning. But that actually happening was slim, but hey, I could always keep it in mind to cheer myself up.

"No, I didn't hear a thing. Maybe you're just too much of a light sleeper." I said, continuing to smile brightly at my grouchy sibling. I knew that he would have to lighten up eventually.

Ki just sighed and shook his head, reading through the news paper as per usual, hardly touching his own food.

"How can you be so calm on a day like this?" He asked, finally looking up to look me straight in the eyes. He looked worried, distraught. I was his only family left, his only family that mattered to him.

"Well, I just.. am, you idiot." I smiled at him and chuckled lightly to myself as I finished my breakfast, standing up to go wash it. "You aren't even being Reaped, you shouldn't stress yourself out."

"You're my sister Luci, I can't help it. You still have a chance in being Reaped. Ugh.. I don't want to think about that right now." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak.

"Well, if you're finished complaining, I'm going to go to the Reapings so I'm not late. I don't think 'I was listening to my brother rant' is a very good excuse." I joked yet again, smiling at Ki. "I'll see you after." I waved goodbye to him as I made my way out of the kitchen, straight to the Square. Maybe I would be able to meet my friends, Doe and Arnell before hand. I reached the Square, still very early. At least I knew for sure that I wouldn't be late. But there was no sign of either of my close friends, so I went ahead and signed in, making a mental note to find them afterwards. I watched intently as the Square slowly began to fill up with a tense atmosphere building up as more people milled into their correct sections.

Soon enough, I can hear the heavy doors of the Justice Building open up, and I turn my head towards the stage to see the mayor of District Three walk out, along with the Victor of the 89th Hunger Games, Hannah Screener. Behind her, was the escort of Three, Aquila Barbata. She was one of the most unenthusiastic escorts that had ever represented Three, and she didn't try to hide it one bit. This 'enthusiasm' seemed to carry on with her fashion as she was dressed in all sorts of different colours, which all clearly didn't suit her. Like pastel purple, a deep, warm red, and a deep looking turquoise colour. It looked horrible. Aquila acted though as if it were the worst job in the entire world, very reluctant to even look at the cameras. Finally after a big sigh from her, Aquila began to speak.

"Welcome, everyone. Today we will Reap one boy and one girl to go into the 82nd Hunger Games." It sounded so staged, so rehearsed.

"But before that, let us watch our video we have brought to you all." She grumbled, scowling over at the screen as the usual video boring video was played. Once it finished, she turned back to the microphone and rolled her eyes.

"Now, let's begin. With the girls." She pretty much stomped over to the girls bowl and picked the first slip that touched her fingertip. She walked back and didn't bother to look up as she read out the name of the unfortunate soul that would go into the Games. But the moment I heard the name, my heart sunk down to my feet.

"The female tribute is.. Luciana Fern."

 _ **Arcturus 'Arc' Prate, Aged 17**_

My life has always been simple. It had never been hard but it had never been too easy either. It was just right for me. An eventful life meant a hard life, and that was far from what I wanted. What I had right now, was all I needed. I had a loving family who had work, I didn't live in poverty, I had a job of my own. I had friends who cared about me and for who I was, and a girlfriend who I adored. Everything was just.. simple. And that was the way I liked it. The Reapings had never been my favourite time of the year as someone from our District would be dragged out and away to the Capitol to die. District Three hardly won, it was rare we did. But after the Reaping, we had the rest of the year to ourselves without worrying.

I, thankfully, got the day off of work because of the Reapings since I was still eligible for the Hunger Games, at the age of seventeen. Which meant that I got to sleep in, something I wouldn't protest to. When I did finally rise, it was about an hour until the Reapings. Damn it! I was supposed to call over to Sera, my girlfriend, earlier in the morning but I clearly didn't wake up in time. But she wouldn't mind, I knew she wouldn't. Sera loved me, and I adored her. We were meant for each other. We were inseparable. And we were serious about being meant for each other. After some very long and partly dragged-out discussions, we both wanted to get married. And we planned to, ever since then. I have been saving up for a house of our own ever since then. I would buy one the minute I was free from the Reapings forever. When we were both free.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts, still half asleep. I pulled myself out of bed, knowing that I couldn't just waste my day in bed. Especially on Reaping day. One more year, one more and I was out of it for good. No more panic of being Reaped, no more worry. We would have our freedom from the lingering thought of being taken to the Capitol and into an arena. I took a deep breath and stood up, yawning and making my way downstairs, running my hands through my already messy brown hair. I wouldn't deny, I was pretty good looking for someone from Three. I had messy brown hair, green eyes, freckles, I was about six foot and pretty strudy, with a straw jawline. But I was a little underweight, so that could be a little complicating at times. I wasn't obsessed with my appearance, I just made sure to look after myself. I stepped into the kitchen and took a quick glance around the room, smiling contently. Today would go well. I just had a feeling it would. My parents weren't home for the moment, but I would be able to either see them at the Reapings or afterwards. I wasn't extremely hungry so I ended up just grabbing a bagel and quickly toasting it. Now I could see why I was underweight, I didn't eat too much. But that wasn't a problem, at least, I didn't think it was.

Once I finished my delightful toasted bagel, I thumped upstairs to grab something to wear to the Reapings. I just pulled open my drawers that held my clothes and chose the first item of clothing I saw in each drawer, which was a white shirt and a pair of navy pants. Simple. I started to put my pajamas away when I heard a knock at the door and groaned to myself, but still smiled and chuckled afterwards, shoving the clothes quickly into my drawer before bringing myself downstairs to find Sera already inside. When she saw me coming down, she grinned brightly at me, which caused me to smile back. Her smile was just so infectious. She was beautiful, even if she wasn't really dressed up today. Sera had curly, thick sandy brown-red hair and freckles all over her face. She was taller than most girls, almost the same height as me. And boy, was she strong. Yet she didn't really seem to care about today, at least dressing up for it as she was still in her overalls from work. She prefered to wear them more than any of her other clothes, and right now, she had the sleeves of the jumpsuit tied around her waist, wearing a grey tank top underneath, as usual.

"I let myself in, since you took too long, slowpoke." Sera teased, hugging me when I finally reached her.

"Or you just couldn't wait to see my amazing face." I joked back, pecking her on the lips. "Sorry about not coming to visit earlier. I, uh, slept in." I said sheepishly, looking embarrassed.

"It's fine, it's fine, you can make up for it tomorrow by visiting. Let's go, or else we are going to be late, there's only ten minutes left until the Reapings start. I don't want to have to deal with the Peacekeepers."

I nodded and left the house with her, holding hands as we walked towards the Reapings, as if we were off to a more merry event than the actual one we were going to. We were optimistic, at least we tried to be as much as possible. Thankfully, we made it in time and checked in, hugging each other good-bye for now. I make my way to the seventeen year-old section with a bright smile on my face in hopes to raise the mood of even just one person. I was around the middle of the large section, standing and waiting for this dreadful thing to be over. I look around in hopes I might see one of my school friends, Zach and Den. I have another friend called Praze, but she was in the girls section. Alas, I couldn't find them, giving up when I heard Three's escort starting to speak, as bored as ever.

"Welcome, everyone. Today we will Reap one boy and one girl to go into the 82nd Hunger Games. But before that, let us watch our video we have brought to you all."

Most people didn't really bother to watch the video, or pay much attention to it and soon enough, it had finished and Aquila began to speak once more.

"Now, let's begin. With the girls." She didn't take long to chose a name, bearly touching the slip her fingers landed on before pulling it out and opening the slip with her usual bored expression.

"The female tribute is.. Luciana Fern."

There's silence in the air for a few moments before I can hear the cries of a girl coming from the fifteen year-old section. Her sobs echo throughout the Square but there is movement as the girl begins to make her way up to the stage. In the distance, I can hear a male voice yelling angrily. It must have been her father or brother. The girl makes her way up slowly to the stage with the help of Peacekeepers and is placed beside Aquila, who takes a few small steps away from her, disgust written on her face. She made her way over to the boys bowl and did the same as she had with the girls slips, bearly touching one before pulling one out and going back to the microphone.

"Our male tribute from District Three is.. Arcturus Prate."

My smile fades as shock sinks in. It couldn't be.. I had everything planned out! My life was supposed to remain simple.. But it wasn't anymore. I could feel my eyes misting over as I began to move out of the seventeen year-old section, up towards the stage. Everything felt so surreal as I made my way up, swallowing hard as I climbed the steps of the stage so I didn't shatter and break down like my District partner. I faced the audience and somewhere I could hear a yell. Sera yelling. She was yelling my name. I spotted her easily and smiled weakly at her in hopes of reassuring her, but she too was sobbing and crying, unable to cope that I had just been Reaped. Everything else was almost like a blur, I was turned to face Luciana who was still crying and we shook hands very weakly and briefly before we were led into the Justice building. I still was dealing with the fact that I had been Reaped, that I was going into the Hunger Games. I sat in the Goodbye rooms, on a rather comfy armchair. But it didn't make a difference for me right now, I had more important things to think about. The first people to enter were my parents, who were heartbroken and terrified for my life. I hugged them both tightly and spoke with them, telling them I would be back. Soon enough, our time was up and they were taken out. Zach, Praze and Den entered the room soon after, all looking shocked and distressed. Most of what they said was babble about me returning, that I would win these Games. I just nodded, agreeing with whatever they said. The last person to visit was Sera. She entered shaky and clearly had just finished crying.

"A-a-arc, you have t-to live. Please." She was still stuttering a little from crying, and I pulle her into a tight hug, nodding.

"I know, I will Sera. I won't die, I'm going to make it back out, and we _are_ going to get married. We'll have a home in the Victor's Village too, so we won't have to buy anywhere." My voice was shaking a little, but I pulled back slightly to smile at her wearily.

"Please don't die, I-i love you, I can't lose you." Her voice was very shaky and Sera was on the verge of breaking down again.

"Don't." I told Sera sternly, not wanting to see her cry again, or else I would too. "I will come back. You're going to see me again." I looked her in the eyes as I spoke before kissing her briefly, the kiss being interrupted by Peacekeepers coming to take Sera away and bring me to the train.

Sera was very quick, taking out a sharp blade, causing the Peacekeepers to become alarmed and they moved towards her. But instead, all Sera did was cut a lock of her hair, handing it quickly to me before the Peacekeeprs forced her out of the room, taking the blade off of her. I had to do this, for Sera. I loved her, we were going to marry. I wouldn't let anything stop me, I needed to do this. I needed to stay positive.

 _ **Luciana 'Luci' Fern, Aged 15**_

I felt like passing out, this couldn't be real. I couldn't have been Reaped. I made myself sit down and try to breathe calmly, forcing myself to stop crying before I began to hyperventilate. I was still shaking though and when I heard the doors open, I looked up to see my two closest friends coming in. I guess I was right, I was still seeing them after the Reaping. Just not the way I assumed.

"Oh Luci.. I'm so sorry." Doe said, moving close to me and bringing me into a firm hug, petting my hair gently in hopes to stop me from shaking.

Doe Wenten was a gentle soul, she was so kind and never really objected when she was given something. She was somewhat motherly but still a close friend. She was a year older than me but looked so beautiful, I was sometimes jealous. But that would always fade away as she was my best friend. She had wide, brown eyes and copper skin, and was just a few inches taller than me.

"It's okay Doe, I'll be okay." I mumbled, not resisting the hug in any way.

After a few moments, she had managed to calm me down and I glanced over to my side to see Arnell, my second best friend. He was someone I never thought I would become friends with. He was so loud and rebellious, and I was the opposite. He had always despised the Capitol, ever since he was born, but his hate grew and grew when they took his mother from him, just dropping him into some orphanage. He was the same age as me, with grey-blue eyes and short, brown hair.

"Luci, I.. I can't believe you were Reaped. You're brother is going to be furious." He mumbled, looking down at the floor. He seemed to be avoiding my eyes.

"You gotta make it back, okay? You're our best friend and we aren't losing you. You show those Capitol losers that District Three are winners." He said, finally looking up, smiling at me in hopes that I would feel more confident.

"You're smart Luci, you can do this. We know you can." Doe said softly, pulling away as Peacekeepers came in to take them away.

"I will." I told them loudly both as they were led out, the door being closed rather roughly afterwards.

Silence lingered for a few minutes as I was left alone in the room. But soon, I could hear feet stomping towards the room and in came Ki, fuming. And surprisingly, Megara. I hugged Ki as soon as I got close enough to him and he paused before hugging me back, his anger suddenly gone. But I could hear him cursing and as he spoke, I could tell he was furious.

"I can't believe it. They can't take you, you're my sister. They can't.." He muttered, holding me close.

"Looks like they are, Ki. Tough, she's been Reaped, oh well. Guess that's just one less mouth to feed. You know she's going to die in there." Megara stated, arms crossed, scowling at the two of us.

I could feel my anger bubbling up but I needed to stay calm, I couldn't let Megara just prove her point. I had to come back, show her up.

"Shut your mouth Megara." Ki snarled at her, glaring daggers at her. They would argue for sure, the moment I left this District.

"You're smart Luci, you can do this, okay? You are coming back. You aren't going to die, you have skills. You don't need to be strong to win these. You need smarts, and that's what you have. You're going to come home, remember that. I love you, okay? You can win this." Ki told me with a stern voice. Hearing him say that boosted my confidence somewhat. He was right. All I needed was to be smart about this.

"Okay, I will come home. I promise." I told him ignoring a snort from Megara. After that,the two were escorted back out of the room and I watched them leave. I could do this, I would win. For Ki. I would do it for him, I would win these Games. I just needed to be smart for these. But I needed to be something else too. I needed to be careful.

 ** _A/N: And there we have District Three! Again, sorry for the late update, I have been busy with life, so it makes it hard to update at times, especially this and next month, I will be very busy! Also, thank you to GoodorEvil132 and TranscendentElvenRanger for submitting these tributes! So, let me ask!_**

 ** _1\. What did you all think of Three's tributes?_**

 ** _2\. Who do you like so far out of the three Districts?_**

 ** _Well, besides that, I have nothing more to say! I will be more active and start writing soon for Four! So I will see you all in the next District, and our last Career District, District Four!_**


	6. Chapter 6 - District Four Reapings

_**Warning: Mentions of rape**_

 _ **District 4**_

 _ **Vick Steel, Aged 18**_

I wake up to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and the smell of the sea. It was a perfect day already, and I hadn't even opened my eyes. I smiled softly to myself and sat up, yawning and rubbing my eyes gently. I got up to peer out through the thin curtain, seeing a beautiful day in front of me. The sun was glittering off of the waves in the sea. Another perfect day in Four. Most days were like this, and I spent most of them outside fishing with my closest and best friend Jasper. I had known him since I was six, for the reason that I had been brought to an orphanage. My father had died out at sea and it left my mother so heartbroken that not long after his death, she drowned herself. I didn't have any good memories besides meeting Jasper there.

I opened up the slightly grimy window with a creak and let the wind blow into and fill the room. I lived with Jasper now in a small cottage off the side of the beach, a place we had found when I was about fifteen years old. We had been omitted from the orphanage and where practically left homeless. Selling fishes kept us going with buying food while we slept on the streets. We eventually found this place and once we saved up enough money, restored it. I took a deep breath of the fresh air and sighed, resting my arms on the window sill. Today was Reaping Day. My last year in the Reapings. Once today passed, I was free. Jasper was seventeen, so he still had one more year to go. But I knew that we would both get away without having to go into the Games, some rich tribute usually volunteered. I forced myself to move away from the window and out of my small and bare room to go eat some breakfast.

"Jasper, get up or we're going to be late!" I yelled, knocking on his bedroom door, smiling to myself.

I opened the fridge and took a look to see what was inside that we could eat. With the money we earned from selling fish, we spent a lot of it on food so starving would never be an option. He wasn't exactly hungry so I just threw on some toast and spread some butter on it before slowly beginning to eat it. I glanced over at the door as footsteps near it and a sleepy looking Jasper came into sight. He glared at me and in return, I grinned back at him. He knew that they would always remain best friends, they were too close to hate each other.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty." I chimed.

"Shut up." He muttered grumpily.

He just needed food, clearly. Jasper bumped into the doorway and grumbled something under his breath before going to get something to eat. He was blind in one eye, which made life a little difficult at times. But Jasper pulled through and lived his life normally. I remained silent and ate my toast as I watched Jasper make himself some breakfast and eventually wake up. We spoke for a short while until we needed to go get changed for the Reapings, doing so quickly as we didn't have much time to change. I just grabbed a pair of jeans and a white shirt, just leaving it open since I didn't have time to do it up. I took a quick look in a cracked mirror I had in my room to hurriedly tidy my spiky blonde hair, rushing out of the room afterwards. As for my shirt, it just left it. Besides, maybe it would attract some attention from the female crowd there. We were quick to move out of our little cottage and ran to the Square as quick as possibly, panting when he finally reached it. Jasper and I checked in before parting to go to our assigned age groups, making sure to meet back at the beach to do some fishing once the Reaping was over. I watched Jasper as I made my way to the eighteen year-old section, seeing him bump into a few people and chuckling, planning to joke about it with him later.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the doors of the Justice Building open, making me turn my head towards the stage to observe what was going on. The first person out was the Mayor, followed by this years mentors, Chelsea Lewginton and Vex Arinai. This was the first year of being a mentor for Chelsea as she had won the year before. After the two mentors sat down, our escort, Celestine Givino, walked out towards the microphone.

Celestine had been the mentor of Four for about seven years now and was forty-five but didn't look it at all. She was tall and thin, which I could only assume was from surgery. She had bright blue eyes and short, curly pink hair. She clearly had painted on eyebrows as they were a bright glittery pink. Her nails were long and sharp as if she were trying to make them resemble claws. And her skin, her skin looked unnaturally pale. The way she had dressed made me feel like gagging. She had dressed in a lengthy pink ballroom gown with a pink fur coat and high heels. It was obvious what color she loved the most. People like her, all of them from the Capitol made me feel sick with how rich they were, how idiotic they were.

"Welcome, all! It's that time of year again, it's time for the 82nd Hunger Games! Today, I'll be selecting a lucky boy and girl to enter! But before that, let us watch this video that we have brought you all!" Celestine said with a perky voice, grinning the entire time she spoke. I had learned to zone out the video by now so instead, I just scanned the crowd for something more entertaining. Soon enough, the video was over and I turned my head back to face the stage to see who would be sent into the living hell of a deathmatch.

"Ladies first!" She announced, making her way towards the girls bowl and digging down deep before pulling out a slip and strutting back towards the centre of the stage.

"Our female tribute is.. Harbour Hamilton!"

As she finished announcing the name, a loud female voice came from the seveteen year-old section. A girl wearing a red shirt with some black leather jeans, a black leather jacket and some studded combat boots. She had her auburn hair up in a tight bun, by the looks of how it was tied. She walked up with a confidence radiating off of her, a bounce in her stride and a smirk on her face. Whoever her District partner would be was definitely unlucky. Once she had reached the stage with her smirk, Celestine brought her to the microphone with a curious look her in eyes.

"And your name?"

"My name is Emilie Fromm, and I will win this year's Games and bring honour to our District!" She said with a loud and proud voice. She must have been one of those people in the District who trained for the Games. Sick people who trained themselves to kill innocent children.

"Wonderful! Now, onto the boys!" Celestine said with obvious excitement in her voice, quickly making her way to the boys bowl and doing the same as she had done with the girls bowl before strutting back to the volunteer and the microphone. I prayed silently that it wouldn't be my name, repeating it over and over in my head until Celestine spoke at last.

"Can.. Jasper Williams come up to the stage?"

For the first few moments, I couldn't but feel over the moon and my heart fluttered, I was free at last from the grip of the Games! But then it sunk in. I finally recognized the name and my eyes widened in horror. Jasper had been Reaped. Of all people, he was the one to be picked. He wouldn't last long in the Games since he was blind in one eye, it could very well be the reason he could die in there. And I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't lose another person from my life. So I took a deep breath and frowned up at the stage just as Celestine was about to speak, Jasper slowly beginning to move from the seventeen year-old section.

"I volunteer!" I yelled at the top of my voice, rushing out of my section and towards the stage, glancing over at my best friend to see his face full of shock, tears filling his eyes. I turned away and kept going as I was led up by Peacekeepers. I did what I had to, to save my friend. Even if it meant my life. Jasper deserved to live. I finally climbed the stairs of the stage and was guided over to the middle by Celestine who couldn't stop grinning. Now that I was closer to her though, I could easily tell it was fake.

"Another volunteer, how exciting! And what is your name?" She asked, practically squeaking.

"Vick Steel." I said coldly, looking out over the crowd, refusing to look at anyone's face.

"What a wonderful name! Well, here we have it, District Four! Your tributes for this years Hunger Games, Emilie Fromm and Vick Steel!" The audience clapped and the girl grinned as they did, enjoying the praise. We turned to each other after a few minutes and shook hands, looking each other dead in the eyes. I tried to remain cold and distant but I could see something in her wide eyes. Something _malicious._

 _ **Emilie Fromm, Aged 17**_

I sat in my bed, messing around with the covers of the sheets and glancing around at my decorated room. I couldn't sleep, I had fallen asleep for about three hours and had woken up after then and I have been awake ever since. I wasn't dealing with insomnia or anxious about the day that was upon us. No, no, no, I was far too _excited_ to sleep. Tomorrow, well actually, today was the day of the Reapings, the day the Hunger Games began. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the Games, about the bloodshed, the killing, the brutality. See, I had been training ever since I was eight years old. Despite my mother being against it, I continued to train. My mother hated the fact that I was training myself for a game where you killed but it never stopped me. When I was ten, I had discovered that I wasn't as good with tridents or spears like most others that trained there. But I truly stood out when it came to throwing knives and dual blades. From then on, I trained with those weapons more than any other weapon in the Training Centre. My trainer would advise me to try other things so that if I got anything, I would stand a chance with killing or attacking my competitors. But I ignored him and stuck with the knives and dual blades. Knowing that I wasn't going to sleep anymore, I jumped out of bed and peered out my window to see the sun rising. Perfect, I could work out and go jog for a short while. I quickly changed into my training gear and tied my auburn hair up into a ponytail so it wouldn't bother me while I jogged, since when left down it reached my lower back. I looked in my mirror as I tied up my hair, smiling happily to myself. I knew I was beautiful, I was always told that. Well, I was told it often enough. I had a petite face and glowing golden skin. My eyes were an odd mixture of blue and green and were quite large and I was naturally tall. And I would use my looks to my advantage when I went into the Games. Once I finished tying my hair up, I made my way downstairs and ate a banana to give me some energy while I ran. I did my stretches and warmed myself up and once ready, closed the door of my home and began jogging.

I ran by most homes, seeing that almost every light was still off. Many people were still sleeping. They were so lazy. It didn't stop me, I continued my routine of jogging until I had ran around almost the entire District. I was panting once I got home and leaned on the wall to catch my breath. It was a good workout. I glanced around me to observe my surroundings while I cooled down, and spotting our trash cans near the back of my house. Seeing them made me frown and close my eyes. They had bad memories. The reason they did was because when I was thirteen, a hobo started sneaking onto our property and living off of our garbage. None of my family had been aware of this so one night my mother and I were taking out the trash, we had caught the hobo and as a result of that, he attacked us. My mother and I couldn't escape and what he did left me paralyzed with fear. He raped my mother in front of me. I couldn't move a single muscle, I was petrified as I watched the scene unfold in front of me. He choked her while raping her, so as a result, my mother died. I only snapped out of my horrified trance when I saw the hobo leaving my mother's body and nearing me. I had to do something and without thinking much, I attacked the hobo in self-defense. I managed to tackle him and wrap my hands around his neck tightly, ultimately leading to the death of the hobo. My life was changed, I didn't care about how well my father did with his fishing corporation. I didn't care much for the wellbeing of others. I wasn't the same anymore. I changed that day, it had mentally scarred me for life. I wasn't as happy and innocent anymore. I became manipulative and someone who dreamed to draw blood. I wanted to see the fear in a person's eyes as I murdered them. Of course, none of my friends knew this. I couldn't let them see how much the incident had affect my mental heatlh. Their name were Liselott, Felicia, Keren, and Hugo. They weren't incredibly close to me but they were my small group of friends who just believed I had a twisted and dark sense of humor.

I growled lowly to myself to snap out of it and forced myself inside the house. I needed something to distract me and I knew just what. A lovely, hot shower. I could tell that it must have been later in the morning by now because I could hear my father, Lorens, and my older brother, Lukas, in the kitchen, speaking about who knows what. I marched upstairs and reached the bathroom, going in and having a long shower. When I finally came out, it was almost time to leave for the Reapings. I rushed a small bit as I walked into my room and threw open my closet doors, scanning through it to see what I would wear. Something to make me look confident, but look sassy. After a few minutes of searching for the right clothes, I end up choosing a red shirt with a black leather jacket and black leather pants. I change quickly and remember to dry my hair before tying it up in a tight bun and applying the slightest bit of makeup. I felt ready to go show the Capitol who I was, ready to make my District proud of who I was. I marched downstairs and into the kitchen, making a quick pop-tart before eating it as I left the house. When I returned, I would be a Victor. I _would_ bring honor to my District. I was early for the Reapings, as usual, and once I had checked in, I went to the seventeen year-old section and just waited, scanning around the Square for some sort of entertainment. I zoned out for a long while as I waited, thinking about what the other future tributes would be like, what the arena would be, what the future Career pack would be like. The only I snapped out of my mind was because I could hear the aggravating voice of Four's escort. The people from the Capitol always made me want to tear my eyes out with out stupid they were. But it never changed my mind on how the Capitol was. Better than the fools who lived in it. I didn't listen to a word she said, but I could still hear her stupid voice. Finally, my moment to shine was about appear. I watched her intently as she opened up the slip and called out the name some girl.

"I volunteer!" I yelled and strutted towards the stage, making sure to smirk at the cameras. All eyes were on me as I climbed up the stairs, I knew very well they were. But that's what I wanted. I made sure I sounded proud and fearless as I told her my name when asked.

"My name is Emilie Fromm, and I will win this year's Games and bring honor to our District!"

The escort commented something which I didn't really care about so I kept smirking out to the audience and took no notice of her until she returned with the second slip in her hand. The slip that could contain the name of my District partner. I only paid attention to listen to the name of the next tribute.

"Can.. Jasper Williams come up to the stage?"

I spotted a boy starting to make his way from the seventeen year-old section and I almost burst out with laughter. He kept bumping into people as he walked slowly with a horrified expression. He was weak and seemed easy to kill. He wouldn't be a problem. But then, as usual, someone yelled to volunteer. But this time he looked worried and came from the eighteen year-old section. The boy reaped must have been someone he knew. He honestly seemed rather attractive which meant straight away sponsors. Maybe this volunteer would of some use in the arena. The escort asked the male volunteer his name and he replied with Vick Steel, a rather unusual name for someone from Four. As the crowd cheered for us, I continued to smirk and turned towards Vick, shaking hands with him with the same expression, looking him in the eyes before we were brought in. Maybe he really could help us Careers. That is, if he were to ally with us.

Two Peacekeepers guided me to the Goodbye room, closing the door behind me once I entered. I grinned to myself and couldn't help but jump and sqee in joy for a few seconds. I was finally going into the Games, I would finally be able to kill without consequence, I could see the true fear in someone's eyes as I killed them with a grin. Not to mention that I get to see the Capitol. I was overjoyed and excited, ready to leave and hop on the trains right now. But all my excitement was paused for a moment as the doors opened and my father and brother entered. I spoke with them for a short while about how I would return and about how many kills I would get in the arena. Before my father left, he gave a necklace as a token, stating it was my mothers. I only looked down once he had left. It was a plain necklace. A silver one with a small but remarkably detailed dolphin. It made me smile, it meant something. But I had more important things to think about than my mother by now. I put it on quickly as my group of friends came in to congratulate me on volunteering and so on. They left not long after and I took a deep breath. From today on, I was a tribute in the 82nd Hunger Games. No, not tribute. _Future Victor_.

 _ **Vick Steel, Aged 18**_

I sat on the comfy chair of my Goodbye room in shock as I awaited Jasper's arrival. It was my last year.. And I had gotten away with it. But in return, it was Jasper who had been picked. I couldn't let my best friend die so I did what I had to. It still hadn't sunk in though, that I had volunteered. I just couldn't grasp it. I heard the door creak open and glanced up to see Jasper, clearly fighting back tears.

"Vick, you didn't have to.."

I frowned, shaking my head. "Yes, I did. I wasn't going to just let you die in there."

"I wouldn't di-"

"Yes Jasper, you would have! And you know it!" I was quick to cut him off, making myself clear.

Jasper remained silent for a few minutes, looking the most upset that I had ever seen. I hated to see him like this, he was usually full of jokes and caring. I could tell that he accepted what I said, he knew that would have.

"You have a life to live, not in there to die."

"But so do you! You're my best friend, the only person left for me!" He was on the verge of tears, his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Come home. Win this and come home. Please." He said sternly, looking at me with a serious expression.

"I will. I promise you, I will come back, I'll come out of that arena." I reassured Jasper, smiling wearily at him.

He didn't answer, instead pulling something out of his pocket. He hand me over a worn looking bracelet made from string with wooden beads. I knew where it was from. I had given it to Jasper when I first met him in the orphanage, when we were doing Arts and Crafts together. And he seemed to have kept it since.

"Take it." He mumbled, forcing it into my hand before hugging my tightly but briefly.

"I'll see you when you win." He said as he walked to the door slowly, looking back to smile at me before finally leaving. I blinked a few times to stop myself from letting tears fall, all my emotions were a mess. But I needed to do this now, for Jasper. I wouldn't leave him alone. I would get back to him. I would win the Hunger Games. I put on the bracelet after loosening it up slightly and smiling at it. It would always remind me of home and keep me determined when I had to fight in the arena and throught the entire thing. Nothing would stop me from getting home. Nothing.

 _ **A/N: So that's District Four everyone! First thing: I AM SO SORRY! I have had such a busy week that I could bearly get on! I had stage productions at the start of the week and then had my cousin over and hung out with until yesterday and went on a date. But finally, finally I've got this up! And thank you so much to flowersnowgirl and caleebbeers21 for these awesome tributes! I had some much fun writing these two! So let me ask!**_

 _ **1\. What did you think of Vick?**_

 _ **2\. What did you think of Emilie?**_

 _ **3\. Out of the four Districts, who do you all like the best?**_

 _ **And just a quick shoutout for luka11303 as they are writing an SYOT that is currently open called '66th Hunger Games: Till Death Do Us Part'. I would recommend sending in a tribute as they have a lot of potential with the SYOT and as an author! Otherwise, thank you all for putting up with my lateness and I will see you guys in District Five!**_


	7. Chapter 7 - District Five Reapings

_**District 5**_

 _ **River Kasaki, Aged 16**_

Peace and quiet. It was perfect and in my little hideout, I had those two things. I swing my feet in the air as I sat on a sturdy brance of the willow tree I had climbed small hideout wasn't exactly quiet as it was next to a hydroelectric power dam, but after a certain amount of time spent in this place, you learned to drown at the sound and pay no attention to it. It was a place that people rarely visited so I had no worries about anyone finding me or scolding me for being around the dam. It was the perfect place to come to relax and sing. I adored singing, it was truly a passion of mine. I had always been told that my voice was beautiful but I never really believed anyone until recently. Here, in this willow tree was my favourite place to sing, I could sing songs of heartbreak or about being upset and let out my melancholy feelings. I was usually never a bitter or pessmistic person but everyone felt upset and let out them feelings in some way. I let it out through song. It was relieving really, and I enjoyed it. I was thin and slight so climbing trees such as the one I was on was easy. I wasn't a tall person, I never really had been, but it was something that never really bothered me that much.

As much as I enjoyed being alone in a place like this, I wished an old friend could have seen this wonderful place. He would have loved it. But thinking about that would just upset me and there was no point looking back at the past. I had other things to worry about. Namely, the Reapings for the 82nd Hunger Games. It was the only day I actually would worry. I had more to think about with the fact that I had taken tesserae out. I wouldn't have actually taken some out if it wasn't for the fact that about a year ago, my mother had another child, a baby girl called Sunne. She was my baby sister and I loved her to pieces. I knew that it would be hard to feed our family with just the money my parent earned and since I was of age to be Reaped, I took some tesserae out. I wasn't going deprive my sister of food, of a good life as a baby simply because I didn't want my name in a bowl a few more times. I stayed as postive and optimistic as I could, pushing the thought away that I had my name in the bowl eleven times. But it was worth it. I wouldn't be Reaped, plenty of others did the same as me. I would be free from the Games in no time at all. I sighed quietly and began to climb back down the tree, knowing very well that I needed to ready myself for the Reapings. I couldn't leave just yet though, today the weather was shining, as bright as it could be. I sat down on the slightly damp grass, not taking much notice and looked in the water, looking at the reflection that stared back at me. I was of asain descent and had coffee brown skin. My father would always point out what a lovely shade my skin was when I was younger. I had dark hair that looked almost boyish that was shortish, reaching to my ears at the sides and back of my head with bangs in the front. I also had large eyes,a turned up nose and a small mouth. I thought I looked just fine, enough to be me. I never really took much notice of my height, being five foot five. I had stooped shoulders that gave the impression that I was shy, but I wasn't really. I grinned down at my reflection and finally stood up, leaving silently but quickly to return back home. I didn't want anyone to catch me or find where I was, even though I was still within the District.

Within ten minutes I was back near the Square, where I could see the Peacekeepers setting up the stage for later on in the afternoon. I walked by and towards my house, passing by an empty one that I avoided looking at. After another ten minutes, I reached home at last and walked right in with a bright smile on my face.

"I'm home!" I called, walking into the kitchen to find my family eating breakfast. They were almost finished by now, which didn't bother me as I had eaten before I left. I walked over to Sunne's highchair and smiled at her, picking her up and hugging her gently, kissing her chubby cheek afterwards.

"Hey there Sunne, you all ready for today? Once it's all over we can go play, okay?" I said happily to her before putting her down and letting he roam free. Sunne was turning two very soon, only a week after the Reaping. By now, she could walk and loved to run around the house and play. I smiled to myself and chuckled softly at her before sitting down and watching my parents as the spoke and finished up their food.

My mother was fouty-one, soon to be fourty-two and was a small woman, just like me. She had premature grey hair and was also asain. My father was gruff and tall, and had blue eyes. He could play the fiddle and while he did that, my mother would sing along. They were the perfect pair when it came to things like that. She learned to sing by matching the notes my father played to entertain the family. I remember when it used to be just the three of us, alone in the house, having fun and messing around, as close as a family could be. My mother didn't really want another child after since I was a rather difficult birth, making my mother think that she wouldn't be able to have another child. But at the age of fourty, she discovered she was pregnant and eventually gave birth to Sunne, who livened up the house even more. She had always looked more like our father with blue eyes and golden blonde hair and has always been very well-behaved.

"We have to make sure to work harder once we return to work. That's what they expect after the Reapings, they don't care what happens." Dad informed Mom, looking at her as he stood up and cleaned up his bowl, talking about him and I returning to work.

"I know dear, and we will. Let's get through today first, shall we? You can worry about work afterwards." She replied softly

I had work tomorrow, along with my Dad because Mom had to take care of Sunne. We couldn't hire a babysitter as we needed most money to pay for our house and food. So when Sunne was born, I started to work at the dam when I was fourteen, helping maintain machinery. It never bothered me, I did whatever I could to help my family to make sure we wouldn't live a life of poverty and starvation.

"I'm going to go get changed." I told the them before leaving the room to go upstriars and get changed.

I opened the creaky door of my room, not really taking notice of it and closed it behind me. My room as simple but a little packed as I now shared my room with Sunne. I opened the drawers that contained my clothes and began to pick out what I would wear. I first picked out a lacey, white t-shirt and after that, picked out a white skirt. I put them both on with ease and looked around for some shoes. I found a pair of black flats and shrugged, putting them on and smiling to myself. Almost ready. I found a white ribbon and tied my hair up with it and searched for one last thing. I had been wearing it earlier but took it off. After a few minutes of searching, I found my pendant that was shaped like a sun. I cherished it as it was a gift from an old friend who had moved away. The person that gave it to me was Zan Kabuki. He had been my best friend for years, along with his little sister Flix. I was closer to Zan than anyone else in my life, that wasn't related to me. But when I was fourteen and he was almost fifteen, he had to move away. His father needed to move to work at a solar plant and didn't want to go alone, so brought his family with him. It hurt me very much as I had honestly liked romantically a good bit. He gave me the sun pendant the day he moved away. I hadn't seen him since that day. I didn't try to make any friends after he left, at least no close friends. I wasn't an outcast and never would be. I had plenty of cheerful acquaintances, but none were similar to Zan. I smiled to myself as I looked at the necklace in my hand before putting it on and leaving my room once again. I was ready to go. Mom, Dad and Sunne had been ready when I came in the door so there was no holdup for us. Once I came downstairs, we left the house, locking it up before walking towards the Square at last. As long as I made it through this year, I wouldn't have to worry. At least for another year. After a ten minute walk, we reached the Square and right on time too. I hugged both my parents and kissed Sunne on the forehead before waving goodbye to them and getting in line to check in. It took another three minutes to get my finger pricked but after that, I walked to the sixteen year-old section, sucking the remain blood off of my finger so it wouldn't stain the skirt or shirt. I stood near the back, where I always had. I disliked watching the Games or being near the stage. I took a look around the crowd in hopes of seeing Zan, or even seeing Flix. But I couldn't. There wasn't a sight of either of the siblings. I sighed in disappointment and just began to speak with some girl beside me who clearly was anxious about today. I calmed her down and reassured her that she wouldn't be Reaped, that the chance was slim. I told myself the same thing each year. I was cut off by the doors opening.

As always, the Mayor of Five came out with the mentor. Five only had one living mentor at the moment, Flare Ganney. After they sat down, the escort came out. His name was Harvey Golding and he seemed like a very young escort, looking only around twenty-one. But it didn't make him any different from how the rest of the Capitol dressed. He was a fat and short man with a large face and a waxed mustache. His hair was long and dyed blue and his eyes were unnatually green, something clearly done by surgery. His skin also must have undergone surgery as it was a pale green, making him look as if he was constantly about to throw up. Today he was dressed in a garnish brightly coloured tuxedo, almost like a field of tulips. He finally spoke, his voice sounding just as stuck up as he was.

"Why hello again, District Five! I guess you all know what time of year it is! That's right, the annual 82nd Hunger Games! Aren't you all excited?" He said with an almost fake looking smile on his face. His question was met with silence as he was watched.

"So," He moved on. "We are going to watch a little video that we have made for all of you before starting the Reaping." He told us as if we were clueless babies. While the video played, I felt annoyed and sick. The people of the Capitol seemed so stuck up and vain, especially Harvey. None of them seemed to realize how much they hurt us all. Thankfully, the video ended soon and Harvey turned back to the microphone.

"Let's start, shall we? Let's begin with the ladies." He said waddled over to the girls bowl with his stumpy legs. He didn't put his hand in very deep, picking out a slip from somewhere within the centre of the bowl. He made his way back to the middle of the stage and opened up the slip after a few moments of struggling.

"River Kasaki!"

I covered my mouth and my eyes widened in horror. No, it wouldn't have been my name, I must have misheard him. But.. It was. As reality sunk in, I let out a short but loud scream, signalling where I was in the audience. I could see the white figures of the Peacekeepers starting to made their way towards me, raising panic inside of me. I started to run, I wouldn't go into that deathmatch, I refused to. But they caught me soon enough and I broke down, sobbing and going limp as the dragged me up towards the stage. By the time I had reached it, my tears had stopped flowing, but I was very pale because of being frightened. I could see myself on the screen. Once in place, I stayed put as I knew there was no point in resisting the Peacekeepers anymore. I only prayed for the boys that one boy wouldn't be called. _'Please, please let it be anybody else. Please.'_ I repeated over and over in my head as I watched Harvey make his way to the boys bowl. "Looks like we got ourselves a runner." He said with a joking tone, laughing at his own 'joke', though nobody else did. He did the same as he had done with the girls bowl and once in the centre of the stage, beside me, he opened the slip. I closed my eyes, repeating over and over for it not to be Zan. But..

"Zan Kabuki!" He called out with a grin on his face. My pleas hadn't worked.

I looked horrified, shell-shocked. I began to shake and couldn't stop myself, watching as my old best made his way up to the stage with a sullen expression. In the distance there was someone sobbing loudly. Someone I could only assume to be Flix. She was losing her only brother. He was going into the arena with me. I watched him walk up to the stage, tears welling up in my eyes as we made eye contact.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your tributes from District Five! River Kasaki and Zan Kabuki!" He said with a proud voice, turning us to shake hands. As we shook hands, we smiled at each other weakly. After these years apart, we were reunited. Just not in the way either of us expected.

 _ **Zan Kabuki, Aged 16/Almost 17**_

Looking down at the grey looking soup made me want to throw up. My breakfast for this morning and it looked disgusting. I wished that if we had more money, we could afford to create better food, something more pleasing to the eye. But that wouldn't happen, at least not while I was here. I lived in an orphanage in the centre of Five, with my sister Flix. The orphanage itself wasn't a bad place. Miss Pell, the woman who ran the place, was a kind woman who was just trying to help all of us. But we didn't have much funding money and because of this, many kids here were rowdy and had poor discipline, which got under her nerves at times. I was almost seventeen and very soon I would be able to leave the place and take Flix with me. We would get a home of our own. I liked Miss Pell but I just needed to get out, to stop being passed by each time someone came to adopt. I sighed with a scowl on my face and slowly began to drink the soup, downing it as quick as I could so the taste wouldn't linger as much. Across from me sat Flix, with the same meal and her friend Silt. She had mousey brown hair and was usually pretty quiet with people that weren't her friends, but she was friendly towards me. How we got here, that was a story.

I wasn't always a moody, resentful person. I used to be caring, I used to joke around a lot and I was a well-adjusted person. I had a very close friend called River, a girl I had known for years. She was my best friend and she was close to Flix too. We would always play with each other during the summer and would have sleepovers during the winter, small things. But we were all very close and as we grew up, I slowly began to develop feelings for River. But I could never admit them, I couldn't bring myself to do so, I was afraid I might mess up our friendship, I was unsure if River even felt that way about me. But when we were both fourteen, I had to move as my father had gotten a job in the centre of the District. I gave her a sun pendant before I left, hoping she would remember me by it. I was upset about moving at first, but I learned to deal with it after a short while, knowing that it was for the better, to help my family. Eventually, we all got jobs in the solar plant and we began to relax into our new lives for the first time. But then something happened. Something I wished never had, it made me regret ever moving. There was an explosion at the plant. Our parents were in the next room to us when the explosion went off, there was a glass panel between us to keep an eye on each other. When I heard the loud bang, I turned to look and see if they were alright. Only to see them disappear into a flash of light. It startled me but I reacted quickly and was able to jump in front of Flix before the shockwave reached us, throwing us against a wall from the force of it. I remember feeling a sharp, intense pain coming from my abdomen a few minutes after the hit, but I didn't know what it was. I didn't have time to check because I fell unconscious. When I finally came back around, I was on top of Flix, covered in my own blood. I was able to see what had happened to me once I moved off of her. I had been stabbed by a piece of metal, a sharp metal. I pulled it out and after a short while, people found us and we were taken to a hospital near the plant. I had saved Flix' life but I very nearly died, bearly recovering. After that, I was left with a nasty looking scar on my abdomen which would become inflamed if I push myself to hard. Ever since then, Flix had adored me, which I didn't mind, to an extent. But after that, I changed.

"Is everything okay?" Flix asked me, looking concerned, causing me to snap out of my mind and brining me back to reality.

"Yeah, fine. Why are you asking?"

"You're frowning." She still seemed concerned.

I chuckled at Flix and smiled softly, looking at her. "My face is always like that. I just look mad, but I'm actually fine." I reassured her, watching her and Silt finish their soup.

"Besides, we have more important things to be thinking about today." We all knew what I meant by that. The Reapings. Neither of us had taken out any tesserae as Miss Pell didn't want us to, so we both didn't have our names in too much. I had mine in six times, and Flix had hers in five. We would be okay, we didn't have a big a chance of being Reaped as people who did take tesserae did. Once we had all finished, we left the canteen where we ate our meals and went to our rooms. The girls and boys were in seperate areas, so once we reached that point, I said goodbye to Flix and Silt before going towards my own room, to get changed for the Reapings. I needed to stay calm about today, if I didn't, I would end up breaking something. I walked into the bathroom I shared with three other boys, thankful nobody was in there. I sighed turned the tap on and splashed some water in my face, drying it afterwards and looking in the dirty, graffitied mirror. I was half asain, with short black hair. People said I had daring eyes, which I always thought was funny. I was told that I was handsome too, but I knew very well that I wasn't as handsome as the boys from the Career Districts. I was five foot seven, a little small for my age, but it wasn't something that bothered me as I was strong from working long hours. After a small mental pep talk to myself, I left the bathroom and went into my room, which was pretty much bare besides a bed and wardrobe. The walls were a bland grey colour, and the floor was a unpleasant brown colour as it was wooden, which tended to creak. I looked through my clothes when I opened up my closet, taking a few minutes before pulling out some black corduroy pants and a navy blue polo shirt. I pulled them both on with little effort and left my hair as it was, leaving my room once I was all ready to go. Because most orphans here had to work long hours as well as the adults, we got to sleep in today and have breakfast later than usual. I leaned against a wall and crossed my arms, waiting for Flix. She took about fifteen minutes to arrive, dressed in a simple pale pink blouse and a white skirt. We didn't take long after that to leave the orphanage and arrive at the Square, walking in silence as we got closer. There was a tense atmosphere and we both picked up on it. Flix was starting to panic about the Reapings as she saw people checking in, so I hugged her tightly, trying to reassure her.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. Your name is only in there five times. Even still, if you are Reaped, maybe someone might volunteer.. like River." I told her with a faint smile, eventually getting her to calm down. We got in line and checked in, getting our fingers pricked and saying one last goodbye before going to our seperate sections. I was in the middle of many sixteen year-old boys, just waiting for the Reapings to begin, but also dreading the thought it starting. I was stuck with the sixteen year olds as I was still that age, but would be turning seventeen soon enough, within the next three weeks. During the Games, like always. The doors of the Justice Building opened up and as per usual, the Mayor and mentor of the tributes Flare Ganney came out, followed by District Five's small and plump escort. He seemed very stuck up and vain. No wait, he didn't seem like that, he _was_ very stuck up and vain. After a few years of being the escort, everyone knew he was. Just looking at him made me want to slap him. Why would someone want to change themselves as much as he had? I blanked out most of what he said, not even wanting to listen to his nasally voice. I only paid attention when he started to actually move towards the girls bowl, looking as if he was struggling to walk a little. He grabbed a slip nonetheless and made his way back to the microphone. The entire time I was praying, begging for it not to be Flix. When Harvey finally opened the slip up, he was quick to announce the name, making my heart almost break in shock.

"River Kasaki!"

I looked around in shock, in hopes some girl would volunteer in River's place. But nobody did. She must have realised this too as I could hear a loud scream that could only be her. I was shaking a little, horrified that she had been Reaped, that she was going into the Hunger Games.. I turned my head to try and find her, but soon enough I could hear someone running and Peacekeepers stomping. After a few minutes of struggling, River broke down and was dragged up to the stage, clearly pale as she was. I was still in shock about this all. I was glad that my sister hadn't been Reaped, but in her place, my best friend had been. I tried to remain calm and took a few deep breaths, ignoring everything that was going on around me. I only snapped out of my trance of breathing when I heard the escort speak again.

"Zan Kabuki!" He called, making me feel like I was about to throw up. That was my name. I had been Reaped. With hardly any names in the bowl. I didn't want to believe it, I truly didn't. But I had to, I forced myself to begin walking before the Peacekeepers started looking for me. In the distance, I could hear Flix crying, pleading. It hurt to hear her like that. I walked up to the stage, making my face sullen and unreadable. I was still in shock about all of this, but I wouldn't let it show, I wouldn't let anyone think that I was weak. I could see River shaking and all it made me want to do was hug her and make it all stop, make this all stop. But I couldn't right now. I couldn't. I reached the stage and was led to the centre by Harvey, much to my dismay, and faced the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your tributes from District Five! River Kasaki and Zan Kabuki!" He sounded so proud, why would he be proud? He had picked two people to go die in an arena? What could someone be more proud of? When I was turned to shake hands, I couldn't help but smile weakly at River and she smiled back in return as we shook hands. I had missed her so much. And now we were together again. Once we shook hands, we were both brought into the Justice Hall and brought into seperate Goodbye rooms. I couldn't sit, I couldn't do anything right now but pace, my mind racing. I watched the door as I paced and after a few minutes of silence, Flix came in, still in tears. I instantly moved towards her and held her close to me, trying to keep her calm.

"T-t-this can't happen! Y-you can't leave Zan!" She was struggling to speak through her sobbing, it broke my heart.

"I have to. I'll come back Flix, I promise. I won't leave you alone." I told her quietly and calmly, rubbing her back gently as I hugged her.

"You h-have to come back! P-please!"

"I will. I won't die, I will come out alive. And we can live in the Victor's Village and have all the food we like. Sound good?" I smiled at her, attempting to raise Flix' spirits. She nodded and wiped her tears away, giving me a watery smile.

"Yeah.. It does." She said, finally calm. After a few moments, Flix took a ring off of her hand and handed it to me. I only realised what it was now, when it was in my hand. It was a melted silver barrette, the last memento of our mother. She had found it in the explosion before we had been taken to hospital, and had it ever since. I had always it was just some plain ring.

"Flix.. Thank you, really." I mumbled, pulling her into another hug, never wanting to let go of her.

"Win this Zan. You need to come back." She told me one last time before pulling away, smiling at me before she was taken out by a Peacekeeper.

I was still in shock, I couldn't believe this had all happened. I was with River, but we were going into the Hunger Games. But thinking of having her there with me, and my mother's ring to remind me of Flix, I could remain motivated and strong. I would get through this all. I just hoped that River could too.

 _ **River Kasaki, Aged 16**_

I was still shaking, it was uncontrollable. I was in shock, horrified about all of this, everything that had happened. I had been Reaped and so had Zan. I closed my eyes, trying to calm down in some way, but I couldn't. I could hear stomping nearing the room and I could tell that it was my family. My father, to be exact. The door was flung open and my father entered, along with my mother with Sunne in her arms. She had clearly been crying whereas my father just seemed extremely angry. The first thing they both did though was hug me, causing me to tear up. I would miss them so much. I loved my family, I didn't want to leave them. I didn't want Sunne to grow up without a big sister.

"They can't take you!" Dad objected, sounding furious after pulling away from the hug. "I won't let them, your my daughter!"

"We can't stop them.." Mom sighed, looking at me with a sad stare. "Honey, you need to win this. We believe in you, you can do this." I could tell she was trying to be hopeful but by now, I was already giving up hope. I knew I didn't stand a chance.

"I can, I will." I wanted to give them hope, even though I wasn't all that hopeful myself. I sighed and slowly began to stop my shaking and smiled at Sunne, taking her from my mother and hugging her for what would probably be the last time.

"Be a good girl while I'm gone Sunne, I got to do some stuff for a while but I'll be home really soon and then we can play more than ever, okay?"

Sunne smiled goofily at me and drooled a little, making me chuckle weakly. I kissed her on the head one last time and handed her back over to my mother, smiling weakly.

"I'll come back, I promise. Besides, I have Zan with me. Maybe I really can win." I said to my parents, boosting my confidence a little.

"We love you dear, so much." My father said, looking more upset than angry by now, which was a little bit of a relief.

"I love you too. I'll come back, I promise!" I told them all as the Peacekeepers came in, telling them their time was up. They were practically forced out of the room, leaving me in silence. Now that I was all alone, I could think. I had to make a strategy to survive the Games. But more importantly, I had to make one so both Zan and I would survive. I lost him once, I wouldn't lose him again.

 _ **A/N: And here we have it, District Five! I'm getting back on the updates, as you can all tell! I started writing the moment I finished Four! Thank you to TranscendentElevenRanger for both these tributes! I hope I wrote them well! I still wrote, even though I'm still pretty sick, but hey, at least we're getting in! Almost half way through! So, the usual questions!**_

 _ **What do you think of River?**_

 _ **What do think of Zan?**_

 _ **How do you guys feel about them both knowing each other?**_

 _ **And the last thing, I have a poll up for you guys, to vote for your favourite District so far! Besides that, I'll see you guys in District Six!**_


	8. Chapter 8 - District Six Reapings

_**District 6**_

 _ **Timothy Ross, Aged 13**_

I listen as I hear the gravel underneath my feet as I walk away from yet another job that I wouldn't be brought back to. I could feel my stomach rumble in hunger as I walked with money clasped in my fist. My life had always been like this, never any different. I made my way towards the market in hopes of buying a large amount of food for my family. I had no idea how much money I had, even though my temporary employer had told me the amount. It didn't matter if someone told me the amount, as I couldn't count. I was unable to tell what numbers looked like or how to add things, as well as being illiterate. I had always been far too poor to afford an education, so I was kept at home and taught about life instead of the useless things they taught you at school. My father and mother handled most of the money that came into the household. Whatever money I earned, I usually gave to them to take care of, or bought some food for us, if close enough to the market. Ever since I was six, I would get jobs to help provide in any way, but usually ended being fired.

I wandered through a crowd of people, in search for a stall that would let me purchase some food. I followed the scent of something that I assumed was some type of spice, reaching a stall that clearly had food out. The expression on my face remained blank though, even if I felt ever so slightly pleased with myself for finding the stall without having to struggle with reading or asking around. I walked up to the shack like stall and a woman approached me, looking as if she was in her late thirties. She smiled kindly at me and began to speak.

"Hello. What can I do for you, young man?" I could tell she thought I was older than I actually looked, so I didn't hesitate to correct her.

"I'm only thirteen." I said in a monotone voice, holding out the cash that was in my hand. "I want whatever this will pay for."

The woman looked slightly taken back but took the money from me and nodded, disappearing for a few minutes before returning with two loaves of bread and a small jar of a spice I couldn't seem to recognise. I took them from her and muttered a thanks before leaving and beginning to make my journey home with the disappointing amount of food in my hands. I had hoped for more, but it seems that I must have been doing a poor job as it didn't seem like I was paid very much. I made my way home, passing people by as I did, paying no attention to them. I didn't know any of them, so they didn't matter. I walked for another twenty minutes until I reached the poorest neighbourhood in the District, populated with a quite large amount of people. More than most would think. I entered the small building which brought me straight into the kitchen and laid the piece of bread and the jar of spice down on the surface of the wobbly table, before turning and going back to my room. There was only the kitchen, single bathroom and two bedrooms in our little home, and we just about survived with it. My room was boring and plain, as well as dark. My mom had chosen my outfit for me already to wear to the Reaping, so I just shrugged and threw on the outfit. It wasn't stunning or fancy, just a pair of dungaree's and a white shirt that was slightly stained and a little torn. I could hear muffled voices from the room across from mine, which could only be my parents. They were probably talking about the Reapings, or having to make more money for food and our house. I listened for a short while but lost interest soon enough, not wanting to know about how close we were to losing our home. The only good thing that came out of the Reapings was that I could take out tesserae, since last year. It fed us that little bit more. I was the only one in the house who was within the age limit to be Reaped, so only I could take out tesserae. Sometimes I wondered why my parents didn't have another child to help feed the family, but I quickly would remember that it would just be more mouths to feed until the second child was about twelve. There were pros and cons to that situation. I left my room once again and waited out in the kitchen silently, staring longingly at the bread. Maybe I could have one, I was starving after all. I didn't twice, reaching out to take the soft looking bread, just as I heard the door of my parents room open. I withdrew my hand sharply and stared at them as they entered the tiny kitchen.

"I bought some food on the way home. I thought it could be helpful, since we haven't had anything fresh for a week now." I informed them, seeing my mother scowl slightly, annoyed that I had used the money without asking them. But my father spoke before my mother could, smiling weakly at me.

"Thanks Timothy, now, why don't we get ourselves to the Square? None of us want to be late today and it's a bit of a walk." He said with a soft voice, putting the spice and pieces of bread away. I stand up and push in my chair and after a few quiet and quick words between my parents, we leave our house and are on our way to the Square. I hated the whole thing, the entire concept of the Hunger Games, if only I could get my hands on the person who created all this havoc. I would murder them, on the spot. Without hesitation. But I had to live with these Games instead, no matter what.

 _ **Rii Sah, Aged 18**_

"Give it back you brat!" I yelled as my brother Brennan tosses my diary away, throwing it at a wall. I punched him quickly in the stomach, winding him and rushed over to pick up the worn looking book of mine. Brennan adored to pick fights with me over anything. He was so annoying and bratty. But at the end of the day, even though he could push me to my limits, he was my brother and I loved him, and he loved me.

"What the hell!?" He exclaimed after he gasped a few times for some breath.

"Don't take my stuff, you know I write in this." I flipped my younger sibling off just as my father, Eric, entered the room. I immediately cursed under my breath for getting caught and prepared myself for the usual lecture from him.

"Rii! Did you actually make the horrible gesture to your brother!"

I nodded and rolled my eyes to myself, wanting to him to finish up, even though he had only just begun his rant.

"How unlady like, Rii! You shouldn't be using such things or saying horrible words that it translates into! Like I always tell you, you need to spend time away from your brothers and with the other ladies in the District."

"I know, I know." I muttered, tuning out most of his words so they just sounded like fuzz before starting to leave the living room to go to my room. Thankfully, I managed to slip out of the room without having to listen to the full extent that the rant could go on for. I flung open my door and walked straight in, throwing myself on the bed, looking at my diary. It was a little old and worn as I had owned it for almost four years now. I didn't write anything about my life though, nothing like that 'I have suuuuuch a big crush on' type of stuff. No way, filled in my diary was my own fantasy world that I had written. It was about a world without the Capitol, without the Districts, without the Hunger Games. A world I wished I could have lived in, instead of this dark one. I didn't like people touching it or looking inside the book as it was personal to me and I just preferred to keep it that way, have nobody mock me for wanting such a place to exist. The only person that I knew that shared the same desire to live in a peaceful world was one of my two close friends, Adelphi Krynn. She was the same age as me, and as much as she loved to tease me about how close I was to my brothers and family in general, she shared the dream of wanting a place where we could all live in peace. We spoke about it whenever we could, comparing worlds, about what we would like best, maybe even swapping ideas with each other sometimes. Even if she was a smart-alec, she was a loving person with black hair and brown eyes.

I took a flick through it to ensure that nothing had been messed up or had fallen out, confirming so after a few minutes of looking through. I shut the item softly once again and place it down on my bed, glancing out the window to look out at the day before me. It was cloudy and grey, dull and boring. Always like this Six. We never really got much sun, but I heard that the weather was worse in Eight. It usually was cloudy and pretty dark whenever we watched over the Reapings. But thinking of that remind me of the unfortunate day ahead. Two teenagers would be Reaped. I only prayed that the ones chosen stood some chance in the arena. If I was fully honest, the Games always intrigued me. Not half as much as the Careers who trained for them, but watching them in general. When we learned about the rebellion in school, I understood why the Games were made. It was only fair for what the Districts had done, and that was the harsh reality. I heard my name being said, taking me out of my daydream and causing me to look at my door, finding my mother standing there with a soft smile. "Darling, get changed for the Reapings, once your brothers are ready you know that we will be in a big rush." She left me to change after that, going back to the kitchen to clean up from breakfast. Darim and Brennan could be such pains sometimes. Darim was the oldest of all three of us, at eighteen years old. This year was his last to be eligiable for the Games which both saddened but relieved him. I was the middle child, at seventeen years old, and Brennan was the baby of the family, at fourteen. Darim didn't even look related to Brennan and I, with soft blonde hair and grey eyes. Just like our mother. Brennan was a mixture of our parents, but resembled our father more and more each day, with grey eyes and black hair. The only things I shared with my father was his black hair and brown eyes.

I groaned for a second, a little too lazy to get up as I was comfortable where I was. But the Peacekeepers here were harsh and if anyone was late to the Reapings, you would be punished. Death being one of the options of punishment. I stood up and took out my outfit for the Reaping. I had planned the whole thing out the day before so I was prepared and didn't have to deal with any panic if the boys got dressed before me. What I had picked was a sleeveless dress, with black lace covering the whole thing and a tanned collar. I had some black flats to go along with it. I may not have hung out with girls very often, but I still did had some sense of fashion. I took off my clothes and got changed into the dress, tying my hair in a bun to finish off the look. But, on my forearm was a yellow and black bruise. I giggled looking at it, because of the reason why I had it. I didn't care much about it, so I didn't cover it up with makeup. It didn't matter after all, it wasn't the worst thing that could be on me. I hid my diary before leaving my room so Brennan didn't try to steal it again. I stepped into the kitchen, finding everyone was ready to go, besides, of course, Brennan. My father looked at the bruise disapprovingly and raised an eyebrow at me. "What happened to you?" I just smiled as I gave him the answer.

"What do you mean? The bruise? I was wrestling Darim two days ago and got it from that. Nothing much really, I've had worse." I chuckled to myself, know that I did indeed have worse injuries. Dad rolled his eyes at me and shook his head, grumbling to himself about it, clearly not wanting me to go out without covering it up in some way. I sat down the table and spoke with Darim about what we would do when we came back from the Reaping, hoping for maybe another wrestling match. Brennan finally yelled that he was dressed and that we could now all leave. We left the house as a family, joking with my siblings as we walked towards the Square. But luckily enough, we ran into Spera, my other friend. I was a little closer to her than Adelphi. She had hazel eyes with blonde hair and was a kind person. out of our group, she was always considered the brains, whereas I was the brawns. She put up with how loud and outgoing I could be too, so she really was a good friend, even if she was a year younger than me.

"Hey Spera!" I called with a grin on my face, breaking away from my family to walk over to her as we walked slowly.

"Hey Rii." She smiled weakly and looked at me, scanning my face for a moment. "You never feel worried during the Reapings, do you?" She laughed shakily, trying to make light of the situation.

"Haven't been Reaped so far, so I haven't got anything to worry about." I shrugged, shoving her playfully. "Come on, lighten up, it's only today! Besides, the chances of any of us are slim, there's plenty in Six." I said in hopes that I would raise Spera's spirits. She expression just remained the same and she shook her head. There was no way of getting it out of her mind. I sighed, giving up and walking alongside her until we finally reached our destination. I quickly hugged my mother and father, messing with my brother's briefly before getting in line, with Spera. Once I checked in, I waited for a few moments for her to give her a hug and some words of reassurance, before making my way towards the seventeen year-old section. I felt a little eager for the Reaping to start to see who would be chosen. I was hoping, praying for someone from my section or from the eighteen year-olds. Someone who stood a chance, someone who wouldn't die in the arena. I viewed the crowd as the Square began to quickly fill up, watching as people went to their designated section. I turned my head back towards the stage, and after ten more minutes of waiting, the Reapings began. I watched carefully as our Mayor came out of the Justice Hall, along with our only remaining Victor, Remus Kyva. Almost trampling the two on their way out was District Six's very own Verusha Gaetano, the conceited and snobby escort that we had since I was twelve. People from the Capitol were so idotic, so unnecessary. They dragged everything out, from their fashion to the simplest things like eye colour. Verusha was one of the worst escorts to have from all that I saw during the Games I could remember. She was obnoxious, loud and conceited, probably like most citizens of the Capitol. What she was wearing proved me point. She had her hair clearly curled, so her lime green hair was about to her jaw. She always had a different colour each year, this year being a disgusting shade of green. The dress she had on her was hardly a dress, it reached her upper thighs and was covered in sparkles. Her heels were pretty high too, something I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable wearing. And as for her makeup, it was way too overdone, as usual. But as Verusha spoke, I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes, wishing that I had Adelphi beside me so we could mock her together.

"Welcome all of District Six! For the Reaping of the 82nd Annual Hunger Games!" Her tone made me want to throw up.

"I'm.. delighted to be here today, as always. Before we Reap our two tributes, let us watch a video which was made just for you Districts." The same, plain video played on cue, causing me to tune it out, taking one last look around to see if I could find Adelphi. But to no avail. I sighed in annoyance and looked ahead until the video had finished, reluctantly watching _her_ again.

"Let's begin with the gentlemen!" Verusha walked as slowly as she possibly could to the boys bowl, to try and get as much TV time as she could. She stuck her hand in the bowl and rummaged through it before finally removing a slip and returning to the microphone and opening it up with a wide grin.

"Timothy Ross!" She announced loudly, making sure absolutely everyone in the District heard the name. After a few moments of silence and some glances, a boy began to move from the thirteen year-old section. While most would shake or cry or attempt to run, this boy instead just remained straight and emotionless as he walked up to the stage, not looking at anyone, staring right ahead, even when on stage. I expected to hear a mother crying or a sibling screaming in horror, but nothing broke the silence. Verusha looked the young boy up and down, giving him a weary smile even though he didn't bother to look at her. She then moved onto the girls, proceeding to repeat what she had done with the boys, raising my nerves a little. Finally, the slip was opened and a name was announced.

"Ratia Justus!" A scream came from the fourteen year-old section and I knew instantly this girl was weak and afraid. It made matters worse as she slowly began to walk, shaking fear. This girl would die before she left the platform of the train station. I couldn't let it happen, I just couldn't, so I did what I needed to.

"I volunteer!" I called, starting to move up to the stage quickly before the girl, who I took a quick glimpse at. She was grinning and still seemed to be crying. She wouldn't die, not this year anyways. I smiled weakly at the unknown girl and took her place up on the stage, led by Peacekeepers. Once there, Verusha stared at me with shock on her face. Six wasn't exactly a District that served many volunteers. They were rare for any outer District.

"And.. uh, and your name?" I had caught many people off guard and I couldn't but smile at the expression I had left on Verusha's face. I could tell it was a mixture of shocked and slightly disgusted from volunteering and the bruise on my arm. But as I thought about all of this, a slight part of me actually felt a little excited to be going into the Games.

"Rii Sah." I tried to sound as confident as I could, but didn't add anything more.

"Well then, ladies and gentlemen! Your tributes from District Six, Timothy Ross and Rii Sah!"

We turned to each other to shake hands, but the boy remained emotionless. It was creepy, in full honesty, he didn't smile, he didn't frown, he didn't even twitch. I looked straight into his eyes and all I saw with apathy. He shook my hand firmly which surprised me a little, but I was quick to do the same. All I knew from looking at my partner was that he was someone who wouldn't die as easily as I guessed.

 _ **Timothy Ross, Aged 13**_

I had to admit, I felt shocked that I had been Reaped, I didn't expect it, considering how large the District was. He was surprised that he had been Reaped out of everyone, and at his age too. But it was something he would just have to cope with and shrug off. Crying or becoming upset about it would only show weakness, and in the Hunger Games, showing weakness could get you killed. My partner turned out to be a seveteen year-old volunteer who seemed a little confident, almost happy to go into the Games, which I couldn't understand. Especially the fact that her and the girl Reaped looked nothing alike, so there was no possibility that they were related or friends. The girl looked far too young to even be friends with my partner too. Either way, to me, she seemed like someone to watch. I wouldn't let her take me out, I wouldn't trust her. I just stood and took in my surroundings, one of the last ones I would see from my District until my parents came in. Neither were crying, they were both in shock. They couldn't take it in how I had been Reaped.

"Timothy.. I.." My mother said, disbelief in her voice. She went silent, unable to say anything useful or hopeful.

"You can do this. Your mother and I believe in you Timothy, it may seem difficult, but you can make it out. You will." He pat my back gently and pressed something into my hand before hugging me and leaving with my mother, who was still in complete shock. I glanced down to find a small, wooden toy train in my hand. My father had given it to me when I was younger, about five. We never had much money, but back then he would always find a way to give me some sort of toy, even if it was as small as this. I let a little smile break onto my face as I looked down at it, being reminded of so many memories. Memories I would now be leaving behind here, to go to a place full of horrible, vain people and fight people to the death. Maybe my father was right, maybe I could make it back. But I would need to have real confidence to do that, and the skill to beat every other tribute in the arena with me.

 _ **Rii Sah, Aged 18**_

I couldn't sit down, I just felt too jumpy, too giddy to. I still couldn't believe I volunteered. But at least the girl would have a chance at life, maybe even prepare herself in case she was Reaped again. In her place, I would be going to the Capitol and going into the arena they had created. At least now District Six stood a chance, as cocky as it sounded. I waited for my visitors to arrive, messing with my hands and moving around to keep myself busy. When the door opened I expected to see my family or my friends, but instead of them all, I saw the girl who I had volunteered for. She had clearly been crying, out of happiness or sadness since I volunteered, I didn't know. I stared at the girl in surprise as she walked in, seeing that she was smiling.

"Thank you." Were the first words to leave her lips, stepping towards me, but not making direct contact.

I didn't know what to say, I was still surprised the girl had even come to visit. "Uh.. Right, no problem." I chuckled weakly and sighed to myself a little. I didn't know what else to say, I didn't know how to say what was on my mind either. After a few minutes of silence, the girl spoke once again.

"Try to win. Make volunteering worthwhile." She advised me, patting my arm and smiling at me once again. And with that, she turned and left. I watched in surprise as she left. It made me feel even better for volunteering, for this girl. She was far too young to die. Then again, she was older than my District partner. But only other guys could volunteer for him, and nobody had. I stood there, staring at the door, deep in thought until my family walked into the room, looking both proud but worried. I could see it on their faces. They all hugged me tightly and told me I would win this, that they were proud of me for volunteering for the young girl. Even Darim and Brennan seemed proud. I grinned, thankful that my family weren't freaking out like others might have.

"Now you'll get to see me on the television." I told Brennan, basically boasting to him, to keep the mood light and upbeat. "And get a good score and sponsors." Brennan laughed and pushed me, chuckling.

"As if, you'll get, like, a zero right when they see your face and send you out." He joked, causing me to shove him with a grin on my face.

"Shut up, you don't know what they'll do." My father stopped me before I could hit him lightly though, causing me to look back at him.

"Rii, darling, please just be careful. You never know what you might come up against in there. You haven't trained like some other tributes who will be in there with you. Just be observant." He told me seriously, but hugging me tightly once more. My mother smiled weakly, looking unsure about all of this. She have me a grey earring, telling me it would be my token, my last piece of home. I put it in quickly, as my ears were already pierced and thanked her. I hugged the rest of my family, patting both my brothers backs roughly with a smile before they were escorted out by the Peacekeepers. I waited and sat in the room with excitement and nervousness bubbling in me. Already, I knew that I would stand out as I was a volunteer. But how much would I when compared to the other tributes I was up against? I'd find out on the train, when watching the recaps of the Reapings. I just clung to that hope that people would like my outgoing and loud personality. I needed them to if I were to stay alive.

 _ **Finally, District Six! Half way through the Reapings! I am so sorry I take forever with these, I have a busy life right now, so it makes it hard to write often. But like I said, I try keep it within the week/two week limit! I need to say this right now though, I am leaving for a trip with my school on Monday and won't be back until Thrusday, so I will more than likely update the second week, though I will try get Seven up as soon as I possibly can! I'm sorry about how short Timothy's POV's were, as he is pretty simple as a character. Thank you to calebbeers21 and Hello83433 for these tributes! I hope I wrote them well! So now, to the questions!**_

 _ **1\. What did you think of Rii?**_

 _ **2\. What about Timothy?**_

 _ **3\. Who's your favourite?**_

 _ **4\. Out of all tributes, who do you guys prefer/want to see on the train?**_

 _ **I will have another poll up when I write Twelve's Reapings to see who you guys would like to see on the trains, I'll talk more about it then! Otherwise, I'll see you guys in Seven!**_


	9. Chapter 9 - District Seven Reapings

_**District Seven**_

 _ **Ajax Kiefer, Aged 18**_

Swinging back quickly, I chopped forcefully into the rough bark of the tree I was working on. It wasn't too thick, so it wouldn't take me an entire day to do my job. I sighed and wiped the sweat from my forehead, making sure none of my hair was sticking to my face, feeling a soft breeze pass by and cool me down a little. I returned to my work and tugged out the axe from the tree and repeated what I had previously done, minus wiping my forehead. Due to being eighteen, I had officially joined the work force of lumberjacks. But even though I had many years of experience, I couldn't use a chainsaw, not until I got a promotion that allowed me to. But that didn't bother me much, an axe would do just fine for me until I got such a thing. I had been up since the early hours of dawn to get a proper start at my work, even if it was Reaping day. Usually workers had the day off because of it, but I didn't want to let one day get in the way off my work. So I would get up earlier than normal each Reaping day and come to work to try finish everything that I could before having to go and attend the dreaded thing. It wasn't that I needed extra money to feed my family, we were a well-off house of four. We were middle-class, not rich, but not poor either. We all were well fed and didn't really ever starve. My father, Oliver, owned a part of one of the large forests in Seven, and my mother, Sequoia, was a florist, who planned flowers on my father's plot. He didn't allow anyone to touch the trees or anything, for the matter, on his property as he didn't want his part of the forest to look like other areas of Seven, stumps and dirt. My sister, Chevil, sadly didn't go to school, so I taught her most things that she would need to know about living here. Our parents didn't mind that I did so, they saw that it brought us closer. I rarely attended school myself, so I taught her what our father first taught me, like every other child here. How to whittle wood. She got the hang of it pretty easily and by now, could probably live all alone and know exactly how to provide for herself, even though she is only twelve. She even knew how to wield an axe. Well, she knew the basics, I was still teaching her the rest.

We pretty much like many other families here in Seven and tried to make the most out of what we could. Besides the fact that I didn't bother going to school much. I could work instead, do something a little bit more valuable with my time. So when I was six, I started to work at a sawmill and met a boy who became my best friend, called Sylvan. He was fifteen at the time and was clearly older than me, but it didn't really stop us from bonding, from talking about whatever came to find. He was the person who taught me how to properly strip a tree, as I was a load puller. I did have a few other friends at the mills, and they were all older than me, due to the lack of children working there at the time. But Sylvan was my closest friend there. He was a kind person, caring but tough enough to have a grip on reality. But the situation changed very quickly a year later. He wasn't Reaped, instead, he had been killed in an accident at the mill. I was horribly upset but numb at the same time, as I was seven. Back then, I didn't completely understand the full concept of death. It was only as I grew older I began to realise and later accept what had happened to my dear friend. Year later, after the accident, I meet a girl named Ivy, who later became my best friend. She was only a year younger than me and we always got along, apart from the few silly arguments here and there. We hardly spent time apart, always sleeping over at each other's homes or hanging outside. Usually, we went with the latter. We basically lived outside, we were out so much. I pushed the limit sometimes with my father, occasionally sleeping in the trees at work, like some other lumberjacks. It didn't please him whatsoever.

Time flew by as I continued to swing and chop at the tree in front of me, eventually getting it to fall, my aim. I would have to leave it though, because I knew that I needed to be back at least an hour before the Reapings. I had to shower, get changed, eat some breakfast and meet up with Ivy. I scowled slightly at the thought of having to do so much, but it needed to be done. I put away my equipment and strolled back towards home, observing my surroundings as I passed them. I watched birds fly overhead as they flew by, some people starting their journey to the market, even some little children playing in the front of their houses. I never spoke to anyone who passed by me, I preferred to keep to myself, to be withdrawn. I was comfortable and used to being around Ivy, so that situation was different. But if someone came up to me and tried to talk, I would at least attempt to be friendly in some sort of way. As I neared my house, I noticed that some lights were now on, meaning that my family must have been awake. You could never tell with them sometimes. We did have our fair share of close calls for being late to the Reapings. Thankfully, today wasn't one of them. It was also my last Reaping, as I was eighteen. But it was Chevil's first. I had always been indifferent to the Games, I never really cared much about it. Of course, I disliked the bloodshed. But out of all the girls in our District, Chevil wouldn't be Reaped and I firmly believed in that.

I swung open the door and felt a smile crawl across my face as I smelled some food cooking, possibly a fry-up. It was rare we had one as we tried to keep healthy for our jobs and made an effort to buy the cheaper food. I entered the kitchen to find my mother speaking with Chevil and my father cooking up our breakfast. I plonked myself down onto the chair next to my younger sister and smiled brightly at her as I could see the worry in her eyes. One couldn't help but worry on a day like this. I smiled even more as I heard my father speak with his back facing us all.

"Was it really necessary to wake up and work today, Ajex? It's a day off, and you should be taking advantage of that." He spoke in a stern tone, but it wasn't harsh. He knew well that I would still go and do so anyways, even if I was told not to.

I shrugged and spoke calmly, stretching as I spoke. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd make use of that instead of sitting around, twiddling my thumbs waiting for the Reapings."

He went silent before letting out a frustrated sigh, leaving the conversation at that. He was my parent and he couldn't help but worry as I was his child and I understood that, even if I was a little rebellious at times.

"Darling, while you're waiting, go have a bath. You don't everyone else thinking that you are unhygienic, do you?" My mother said with a soft voice, but really hinting that I smelled bad.

"You stink like a sock, Aj, go have a shower so nobody at the Reaping throws up." Chevil suddenly spoke up, with a mischievous look in her eye as she did, grinning widely. I pushed her playfully and laughed at what she had said. She truly was a _lovely_ sister. I left the room and began to travel down the hallway, towards my room. I walked in and found it clean an organised. If I actually spent time in my room, it wouldn't be half as tidy as it was now. I took a quick glance at my closet and picked out something casual. Dressing up all fancy never really helped much, I didn't see the point of it. I pulled out a grey henley shirt with some of my tighter fitting cargo pants. I could pick shoes later, they were easy. I tossed the clothes onto my bed and walked to the one of two bathrooms we had in our home. I turned on the water and made sure to lock the door, taking my time to clean myself. I only got out when I heard my stomach grumble in hunger, signalling that I needed food before it really started to hurt. I scrubbed myself one last time, checking my hair was clean before dragging myself out of the warm water and drying myself off too quick to be fully dry. Taking a quick glance in the small mirror we owned, I saw a tanned, pale green eyed man looking back at me. I styled my hair back once again so it wouldn't get in my way before turning away from my reflection. Throwing on the clothes I had picked and grabbing a pair of combat boots, I practically spedwalking back up the hall and into the kitchen, just in time for breakfast. I did have some food to eat before I had left earlier, but I had worked up an appetite once again. And a large one at that. I let everyone else take what they pleased for grabbing the rest for myself, though I forced myself not to wolf it down. The last thing I needed was hiccups or a stomach ache when two kids were being taken away and sent to most likely die.

I listened closely to my family as they spoke, all steering clear of the one thing that today was all about. I managed to finish first though, as I still planned to meet up with Ivy. I said quick goodbyes to my parents and gave Chevil and tight hug, promising to meet them once the Reapings had finished up. I rushed out of the house to make my way towards Ivy's house, so we would be able to go to the Reaping together, even if we weren't in the same categories. Many people I was passing were making their way towards the Square, giving me a few strange looks for not doing the same. I finally reached the bungalow that Ivy and her family occupied, finding her outside in casual, everyday clothes.

"About time." Ivy spoke up, her arms folded across her chest, scowling at me. But she couldn't be any horrible at acting. She grinned brightly almost instantly after speaking and hopped off of the wall outside her house. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, I'm truly sorry, I didn't realise that feeding myself got in the way of your schedule!" I pretended to act offended and hurt, grabbing Ivy's hand and kneeling down. "I shall never let it happen again!"

There was a silence between us both for a few minutes before we burst into laughter, tears in our eyes. We always would do things like this, we joked, had fun, messed around, things like that. I was almost a different person when it came to Ivy, I just felt relaxed and comfortable enough to let down my guard and actually be social, even if it was on a day such as this. Ivy called it 'being shy', but I would never let myself be called such a thing, I wasn't a child, I wasn't shy.

"Now, let's go before we get beat up for being late. I don't think you really that on your last year, huh?" Ivy didn't stop smiling, remaining positive about the situation we were nearing. I admired that her, and it kept me inspired to remain just as positive about times such as these.

From there, we walked to the Square, which wasn't too far. And upon arriving, both of us could see we have showed up just in time. We got into the line to check in, still speaking with each other as we waited patiently. Once checked in, we waved goodbye to each other and went our seperate ways, to our own section. I kept myself occupied, glancing around every now and then though to see if I could spot Chevil or even my parents at the back. I didn't pay much attention to our Mayor or District mentor, Juniper Wilson, as they came out and tried to ignore our escort, Fai Raleigh. But one couldn't help but pity him at times like this. He was very young, clearly just casted as Seven's new escort and was both clearly nervous and timid. Most escorts basked in the fame they got from the Games, trying to get as much attention as they could, but Fai clearly wanted to shy away from everything of that sort. Even his outfit wasn't as bad as other escorts, thankfully. He just had his thin hair dyed blonde, and was wearing a suit that was a appalling shade of yellow, with strange blue patterns on it. It didn't look appealing in any way, but it was very toned down compared to the rest of the Capitol. He looked anxious and finally, began the Reapings.

"U-um, hello everyone. Today is the Reaping of District Seven for the 82nd Hunger Games." His voice was meek and a little shaky as he spoke. "We, um.. We have a video f-for you all to watch, just before we begin anything." He was practically mumbling into the microphone. He spoke again as soon as the video had finished, which I had automatically blanked.

"So, let's start with, um.. with the boys." He smiled weakly out to the crowd and quickly walked over to the boy's bowl, taking the first slip that touched his fingertips. He returned to the microphone after stumbling a little and took a few moments opening the slip and announcing the name to the District.

"Ajax Kiefer."

 _ **Allay Rae, Aged 18**_

"Again, Allay? How many times have I told you to control your anger?" My uncle Edwin lectured, seeming frustrated with my behaviour. I had gotten into yet another fight with yet another person, resulting in a bruise on my cheek. It ha burst out because I couldn't control myself, I couldn't stop myself from lashing out. But in the end, I did win the fight, which I would be proud of, lecture or not. I shrugged, smiling proudly to myself about the fact that I had won. I had heard this lecture many times before and by now, it almost seemed like Edwin wanted to just give up and let me off with my fights. But I think the only reason he kept at it was because of my age, that he thought I should know better. But I just couldn't hold back, if I was angry, it would be made clear. I just nodded as Edwin continued to give the same lecture as always, not listening in the slightest. He sighed in irritation and finally let me leave, to go back to my room for a short while.

I could hear my three older cousins, Blake, Flynn, and Ellsworth from the living room as I left, speaking in the kitchen. I decided I would give them a quick visit and as I drew closer, I discovered they were speaking about the Reaping. I walked into the room with a smile on my face and raised an eyebrow at them all. "Really?" I said, sounding almost surprised. "You guys are talking about something you no longer have to compete in anymore?"

All three of them were free from the wrath of the Games, they had the freedom, knowing they wouldn't be Reaped. Blake was the eldest of them all, at twenty-nine. He had his own home, with a girlfriend he had been dating for quite some time, but when it came to Reaping day, they always returned to their families to ensure everything would be okay and that nothing had happened. Out of all of us, Blake was the most mature and responsible person. He, like me, had dark hair and brown eyes, but a little lighter than my own. Then there was Flynn, who I hung out with the most. He was twenty-five and also had his own home, but visited here often, joking around and always talking to me when he got the chance. I had the best bond with him, as a result of hanging out so often with him. He looked the most like my aunt, with brown eyes and blonde hair. And lastly, there was Ellsworth, who was twenty-three. He still lived here, as he was looking for a place to live and savin up. But he was also the most grumpiest person in the household. He always seemed very pessimistic, it almost seemed like a permanent state for him. He also got very aggressive easily, which didn't add well to his bitter attitude. He had brown hair and brown eyes, similar to Blake. All three had tanned skin, like most here in Seven. My uncle Edwin looked mostly like his sons, with dark hair, but unlike all three, had light blue eyes.

"Well, it's something we can't avoid discussing anymore, can it? You're still eligible Allay, we can't help but worry a little." Blake spoke up, his arms folded as he leant on the table.

"Well.. don't. I haven't been Reaped so far, and this is my last year. My name is in there more, yeah, but I know that the chances of being Reaped are still pretty slim for me." I replied, shrugging it off. I never panicked much before the Reapings as it didn't help my situation. During it, I usually was just bitter and angry about the whole thing. I hated the Games, how innocent people were killed, and I hated the Capitol for creating such a thing. But otherwise, I remained pretty relaxed about it, I didn't panic beforehand. I hadn't been Reaped so far, the likelihood of being Reaped now was still pretty narrow.

"It's something we can't help Ally." Flynn said, sounding serious for once. It made me scowl a little, not wanting to talk about a deathmatch.

"Guys, don't worry about it. There's plenty of other girls my age, and younger in this too. I'm not the only one who will have a chance of being picked, just leave it at that." After that, I left the room and travelled back to my own room. The reason I lived here, with my cousins and uncle was, well, because of an accident. Many happened here in Seven, usually to do with trees or machinery. Mine wasn't any different. Not too long after I was born, my parents and aunt were killed by a tree, falling onto them. Edwin had been involved in the same accident but had lost a leg instead of his life, which he soon replaced with a prosthetic leg made out of wood. He and my cousins grieved the three deaths. But I wouldn't, I was too young to know what was going on. So I grew up, not ever truly knowing my parents. I didn't ever feel too upset about their deaths either as I didn't really know them. I spent my childhood here, with Edwin, and my cousins instead. They accepted me and treated my as if I were their daughter and sister, even if I wasn't really. The boys thought me everything I knew, inculding how to fight. I grew up as a tomboy, I still was. I never really hung out with other girls, mainly boys instead. I had a large group of male friends, but my best friend, the one out of them all was Daren Sean.

We were both the same age and seemed to connect better than anyone else. We grew closer as we continued to grow, causing me to develop a crush on him. I hated it, I didn't like having crushes, it wasn't something I was used to, especially when it was on my best friend. But I just couldn't stop it. I was unsure if he even felt the same way about me. After all, I wasn't the only girl to crush on him, though it wasn't half as obvious compared to other girls. He had light brown hair that was almost caramel coloured and had blue eyes with tanned skin. We similar in many ways, which brought us closer, he was strong and bold, brash at times. But when it came to anger, Daren knew how calm himself down before things escalated, he knew when he needed to stay calm. I envied him for being able to do that sometimes.

I entered my bedroom and glanced around for a few moments, dreading having to dress up for the Reapings. It just felt so pointless. But I remembered talking to Daren yesterday, him telling me to wear at least one fancy garment, as it was my last year, after all. Both of ours. I agreed so he would stop bugging me about it. So I threw open my closet doors and reluctantly picked out a green, silk shirt. It was he only fancy piece of clothing I owned, as I would rather die than wear a dress. I pulled out some black leggings afterwards and threw both pieces of clothing on, putting on some brown, leather boots afterwards. I didn't bother looking in a mirror, I didn't much about how I looked, if it matched or not. But I had to, because another thing I told Daren I would do was do something with my hair, instead of just putting it up in my usual ponytail. He suggested to put it into a braid, so I did just that, as I stared at my reflection. I had always been tanned, most were here. I had a sharp face, full lips and a thin, pointed nose. I had deep-set eyes, which were a dark shade of brown that almost looked black. And my hair was a dark brown and curly, which made it a little harder to braid, but I managed it. Edwin always commented saying how much I looked like both of my parents, besides the scars I had on my arms from previous fights. I frowned at myself, disliking how I looked, but standing up and leaving my room, debating if I should go back to pick up my clothes, but going against it. I could do that afterwards.

"I'm going to the Reapings early, I'll see you guys later!" I yelled as I reached the front door, opening it and leaving without waiting for any reply, a little arrogantly. I left and made my way towards the Square, planning to meet Daren there. But when I reached there, he wasn't in sight. I waited for a few minutes, looking around to see if he would arrive any time soon. But appearantly this was too long for some Peacekeepers liking, as I was told to move into the line. I grumbled to myself and just did as I was told, keeping my temper down. But thankfully, I met someone who may have known where Daren was. Wren, Daren's younger sister, was in front of me, by my luck. I tapped her on the shoulder and grinned at her, earning a grin back at me.

"Wren! Look at you, all ready for your first Reaping!" I tried to make light of the situation that was probably wrecking her mind. She smiled sheepishly at me and nodded, obviously nervous about this all.

"I'm sorry to bother you, since you probably have enough on your mind, but do you know where Daren is?"

Wren giggled and shook her head at me, sighing. "You both are so clueless when it comes to communication. He came here early looking for you. So he's probably in his section now."

I facepalmed, cursing under my breath at myself and at Daren for both being idiots. At least we wouldn't have this problem next year. We would be able to meet up beforehand and just watch it be over and done with, hoping for Wren's safety. "Thanks, it means a lot." I pulled her into a quick hug, smiling at her. "You'll be okay, alright? Don't worry about it, if anything, worry about me." I joked, chuckling afterwards, getting her to laugh a little before we had to move up and each check in. Wren left for the twelve year-old section and I made mine to the eighteen year-olds, glancing around to see if I could spot Daren, but to no avil. I gave up my brief search and waited with the others for this damn thing to begin. After a short while, I got what I wanted and the Reapings kicked off. The doors of the Justice Building opened up and we were greeted with our mayor and Juniper Wilson, Seven's Victor. After them, came our escort. One of the new ones, as our old seemed to have _finally_ retired. He spoke for a short while, obviously nervous and played the usual, boring video. After what felt like thousands of years, it ended and we could finally carry on. I was thankful for that, as I was really starting to lose my patience with waiting. The escort walked over to the boy's bowl first and I couldn't help but feel anxious as he picked a slip, removing it from the bowl. I just hoped and hoped with every piece of strength in my body that Daren wouldn't be picked, he had made it so far. He just needed to last past this Reaping. The escort stumbled onstage before reaching the microphone, which stirred up a bit of laughter before he opened up the slip. Everyone went silent, eager but dreading the name on the slip.

"Ajax Kiefer." He said clearly but shakily out to the crowd. I couldn't help myself but feel overjoyed. Daren was finally free! He didn't have to bear with the threat of the Hunger Games over his own head anymore! I didn't have to worry about losing him.. I had to force myself to grin, estatic that he hadn't been Reaped. But this poor person had been instead. After a few moments of silence, someone began to move from the bunch of eighteen year-olds. I saw a tall, blonde haired, tan boy make his way up to the stage. I searched for some sort of emotion on his face, probably like the rest of the District, but found none. He remained silent when asked if he wanted to say anything, when on the stage. Now, it was my turn. I just needed this year to pass by, and I would be free as well. Maybe I could even talk to Daren about everything I felt towards him, without worrying that either one of us would die. I watched as the escort mumbled something else and walked to the girls bowl, thankfully not tripping to or forth this time. He slowly opened the slip as he was shaking out of nervousness. I crossed my fingers, this time hoping that it wasn't me.

"Wren Sean."

At first, I could have screamed with happiness, I was free from that wretched death match once and for all, I had made it through all the Reapings without being picked. But then it hit me. That name, it sounded familiar. I had heard it before. After I heard a high pitch, loud scream, I finally knew who it was. It was Wren, our Wren. Daren's sister. Her name was only in once, yet, she managed to be Reaped. I could hear someone yelling, with a deep voice that could only be Daren. Wren was so young, if she went in there, she was going to die. Daren would never be the same again if she did, I couldn't let it happen. And he couldn't volunteer either, he was a boy, so he couldn't unless he was of the same sex. Peacekeepers were making their way over to her to drag her to the stage, and nobody else was speaking up. So I had to do what I needed to. To save her from death.

"I volunteer!" I yelled, starting to run from my place to stop the Peacekeepers from taking her any further. Everyone looked around in surprise, in shock at a volunteer arising. Wren was left and instead, I was guided towards the stage with a stone cold facial expression. I had to do this. I stood more of a chance at coming back than Wren did. She would be a Bloodbath if she was to enter that arena and everyone knew it, just looking at her. I stood on the stage, to the right of the escort and the boy to the left.  
"What's your name?" He asked pretty quickly, clearly wanting to finish things up and get out of here.

"Allay Rae." I said, a little shocked I volunteered. But I couldn't make myself look weak, otherwise nobody would pay attention to me. I looked straight into the camera and smiled boldly, looking at Fai.

"W-well.. Here you are, everyone. Our tributes from D-district Seven, Ajex Kiefer and Allay Rae."

We both turned properly to look at each other and shook hands briefly, quickly being guided inside. I blinked to myself, letting the shock finally seep in at what I had done, standing in place once the door of the room I was in closed. I knew who was going to visit instantly, and didn't have much time to turn around when the door was opened, the three boys ran in and practically tackled me with how roughly all of them hugged me. Edwin followed in behind, hugging my tightly when the boys let go.

"Allay.. You.. you.." Edwin was speechless, he didn't know what to say, but then again, neither did I. I hugged him once again and just nodded before pulling back, looking at the boys.

"You're crazy." Ellsworth mumbled, looking shocked instead of grouchy for once. I just laughed weakly at him and sat down, glancing up at Blake and Flynn. They both were just as speechless as Edwin. Finally, after a few moments of no words, Flynn broke the silence. "You beat them Allay. We taught you how to fight, you can do this. I believe that you can, we all do." The others nodded in agreement and I smiled wearily. At least they believed in me. It felt like only seconds that they had been in here, but now they were being brought back out. I hugged them all tightly one last time before they were pretty much dragged out by the Peacekeepers. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, telling myself that I could win. I could. I was older than probably most tributes and I was good with hand-to-hand combat. I could only hope that I could do my best with that. The door opened once again and before I knew it, Daren was in the room. I walked towards him and he pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Allay.." His voice was shaking, making it obvious was upset, clearly shocked by my stunt, saving his sister. "Thank you." He mumbled, looking me in the eyes.

"I couldn't let her die. It would have broken your family. All of you." I answered, noticing that Wren was missing.

"She couldn't come in. She was freaking out about being Reaped and about you volunteering. But know that she'll be forever thankful for what you've done." I looked him in the eyes and he looked into mine, both of us clearly on the verge of tears. I couldn't miss my chance now, if I ever wanted Daren to know how I felt about him, this was the time to show it. I didn't give any warning, I pulled him down a little and moved ever so slightly up, pressing our lips together, closing my eyes. I could tell Daren was shocked at what I had just pulled, but forced his shock away to kiss back briefly, before the door opened once again and we were torn away.

"Allay, you make it back! Don't hold back any of your anger, let it out!" He told me, yelling as he was forced out of the room.

Afterwards, I stood there, feeling stunned but somewhat confident. If I wanted to have a chance in winning this, I had to do exactly what Daren said. I had to let out of my anger. But a part of me was terrified that if I did, I would return a monster.

 _ **Ajax Kiefer, Aged 18**_

Everything happened in a blur. My legs carried me up to the stage after hearing my name called, a girl volunteered for a younger looking girl and now, I was saying my goodbyes. At first, I was shocked and couldn't believe, couldn't accept what was happening to me. But now that I was in here, everything was starting to finally sink in and as I thought more and more, I became increasingly anxious about my family. Would I ever get to see them again? Would I ever get to see Chevil again? What if something were to happen to her and I wasn't there anymore, because of these Games? I was really starting to panic and it wasn't helping me at all. If I did try and calm down in some way, I was going to have a panic attack. I was shaking badly and if it wasn't for my family entering, I really would have had a breakdown. I hugged Chevil tightly, holding her close as she began to cry.

"I can't lose you! You're my big brother! You have to come back!" She cried out, holding onto me tightly as I rubbed her back gently.

"I will. I promise you that. I'm not going in that arena without coming back out too." I tried to comfort her, to comfort my parents too, smiling weakly at them as I spoke. I had to give them some hope, I had to give myself some hope. I could do this. I had to, for their sake.

"Please, please come back." Chevil's voice was shaky and starting to dry up from crying, her eyes red and puffy. I hated seeing her like this, I had to protect my little sister, and being sent away to the Capitol wasn't how I usually did it. But I _was_ coming back.

"I will Chev, I will. Don't worry. I'm going to come back." I told her, trying to comfort her with a warm smile. She smiled back, though hers was a lot more weaker. She searched her pockets for something and after a moment, pulled out a necklace. One with a wooden axe charm. She had made it for me when she was ten. I took it and put it on there and then. "I won't take it off, not until I come back to give it to you." I told her, looking straight into her eyes, meaning each word I spoke. After that, I hugged my parents, telling them, promising my return before they had to leave. Watching my family leave was heartwretching, and it almost caused to me break down. I took a few deep breaths and kept calm, waiting to see if anyone else would come to visit. And someone did. Ivy. I hugged her the second she came through the door and she hugged me back. I let out a shaky sigh and listened to her advice when she spoke.

"You fight as hard as you can Ajex. You are coming back. And you know it, you're coming out of that arena." She told me, there was no suggesting about it. Ivy was telling me I was coming back out of there.

"You _will_ win. I know you will. You're coming back to us." She said quietly. She left the room after, not letting me say a word. I sat down and put my head in my hands. I was so close to breaking free from the Games. But.. now, I was stuck in them. And the more I thought about them, the more I worried about my family, about not being here for them if something were to happen to me. But I had to use that. I had to change that nervousness into courage if I wanted to survive these Games.

 _ **A/N: Finally, an update! I know guys, I'm super sorry about my late update. When I returned from my trip, I had no Wi-Fi! And I had work expierence. I know, excuses, but life has been busy. But I do plan on properly updating from now on, now that nothing should be stopping me! I took a small while, past my limit because for me, I like to at least reach four thousand words per chapter. So it took me some time to properly write and reach that! Thank you to heavydirtysoul for Ajex and Kronos's Silver General for Allay! I hope I wrote them well! So, finally, onto the tributes?**_

 _ **1\. What did you think of Allay?**_

 _ **2\. What about Ajex?**_

 _ **3\. What do you think about them compared to the other tributes so far?**_

 _ **With that finished, I need to start Eight, so I'll see you guys there!**_


	10. Chapter 10 - District Eight Reapings

_**District 8**_

 _ **Georgette "Georgie" Tafini, Aged 16**_

"Georgie darling, remind me to gather my stitching supplies later to teach you some more stitches. It can be very valuable, you'll be able to make your own clothes and get a job with these lessons, I need to show you the overcast stitch." Scarlet, my grandmother, told me as we sat at the small table while eating our breakfast. I sighed, sounding a little bothered but smiled softly at her, needing to remind her things constantly.

"Grandma, you already taught me that last week." I informed her, and seeing the confustion on her face at first, before a frown spread across her face and she nodded.

"I apologize dear, I must have forgotten. I'll try to leave a note for myself next time to keep myself from forgetting." She said with a positive smile on her face, even though she said this every time she forgot about something. I knew that it wasn't her fault, as she couldn't control whether she remembered things or not. My mother and I were sure it was Alzheimer's, but we never said it to my grandmother's face. We didn't want to scare her in any way. It was the only thing I shut up about, that I kept a secert.

"Alright, you should. It'll help you remember." I stood up, lifting my plate up to go wash it and taking hers as well, once she was finished eating. "You can make a plan for what you want to teach me. Though I'm not sure many stitches you can teach me by now." I smiled again at her as I washed the dishes with cold, clear water.

"I will, I'll be sure to make one. Now you hurry on dear, you have to ready yourself for today, don't want to be late now." Grandma said with a cheerful tone, reminding of the dreadful event that began today. The Reaping. Nobody could forget what day the Reapings were on, not even my grandmother. You always remembered them, no matter what. I scowled for a few moments before taking a deep breath and smiling once more. "You're right, I should be getting ready. I'll see you later, okay?" I kissed her on the cheek before making my way out of the kitchen and upstairs to my room. I wouldn't let a day like this get me down, it was one day, just one day. The chances of being chosen were slim enough to comfort me since Eight was a medium sized District. Today wasn't a day about worrying, all I needed to do was keep calm and the day would fly by. I relaxed myself as I walked down towards my room, thinking about friends. I would get to hang out with them properly after this was done. I'd get to see Oliver and Lydia again, my two closest friends. I had a large group of friends from when I was young, but as I grew, the group changed. I was still friends with many people but I was closest to Oliver and Lydia. They were the best friends I could ever had and always stuck with me. Oliver and I were about to be even closer as his father, the mayor of Eight, was marrying my mother, which would make us step-siblings. It made things better that we were the ones who had orignally set them up. So nowadays, I was usually hanging out with them or helping my mother run our small clothing store and plan her wedding. I didn't mind any of it, if anything, I loved it. It brought us closer as mother and daughter.

I didn't ever really know my father, it wasn't because he had died in some accident or anything, he just left, he ran away from everyone when he found out that my mother was pregnant. They both were only eighteen at the time and my mother told me that he probably couldn't handle it, so he ran off, leaving me to be brought up by my mother and grandmother. They presumed that he had attempt to run off into the Capitol but must have failed and died as they had no contact from him since. My mother never seemed bitter about it, she always tried to remain positive about his sudden leave, saying that he ran off so he could return with more money and provide a better life for us. But he never really did. I walked into my room and saw what I would be wearing on my bed, I had picked it a few days previous. It was one of the bridesmaid's dresses from our shop, a beautiful burgundy red, silk dress. It had short sleeves and and a thin black sash, as well as a knee length skirt. It was gorgeous, and I was actually very close to persuading my mother to having her bridesmaids wear that type of dress on her wedding day.

I lifted it up and felt the silky fabric between my fingers and let yet another smile trail across my face as I looked down at the outfit I would be wearing. I always took pleasure in creating new outfits for the shop and just in general. I would enjoy working at one of the factories here. The enviroment may not be good but I would just make myself focus on my work. It made me feel excited, thinking about getting a job when older, when I couldn't be Reaped anymore. After a few minutes of pondering and staring at the dress, I finally undressed myself and got changed into it, throwing on some plain, black dress shoes with it. I debated doing something with my hair but dismissed the thought and put away my clothes, leaving my room as I had left it, tidy. I had plenty of time left before the Reaping, so I could meet up with my two closest friends, and hang out briefly with them before we were told by Peacekeepers to go. I knew that my mother wouldn't get to see me before the Reaping because she was working, so I would visit the shop after the Reaping.

"I need to go now Grandma, I'll see you after the Reaping!" I called to her while making my way to the front of the house, keeping my voice upbeat.

"Alright dear, don't get hurt on the way." She called back, making me chuckle a small bit before shutting the door and taking a deep breath and beginning my journey towards the Square. I had told Lyndia and Oliver to go to the Square early, to meet up. I just hoped they would actually show up in time. Lyndia could be a bit of a ditz at times and tended to be late to the Reapings. The only year she wasn't late to was our first Reaping, back when we were twelve. It made me both cringe and laugh thinking about it. Upon eachig the Square, I was greeted with the sight of Lyndia waiting and looking around with a sweet smile on her face. Once she spotted me, she ran over towards me and practically threw herself at me, hugging me tightly. I laughed and squealed at the tightness of her grip.

"Hey, calm down, I can bearly breathe!"

"Sorry, I'm just happy to see you is all!" She admitted with a wide grin still on her face.

"You're always happy, you idiot." I joke, pushing her playfully and smiled back at her. "Is it just you?"

Lyndia nodded and shrugged afterwards, taking a look around as the Square began to fill up with people. "I thought Oliver would be with you."

I shook my head, starting to feel a little annoyed at the fact that neither of us were going to get to see Oliver before this all started. "No, but he'll show up eventually. We'll chew him out otherwise for being late." I grinned, making light of the situation again. "He knows how melodramatic I can be, I don't think he'll risk it."

"Melodramatic? Georgie, you're the queen of drama! You'll never let him hear the end of it." Lyndia commented, laughing to herself about how true her own statement was. I blushed a light pink and rolled my eyes at her, chuckling softly. "Shut up, I'm not that ba-"

"You so are, have you heard yourself growing up Georgie? You know you are Panem's biggest drama queen." She was still in a fit of laughing pretty hard, but it was beginning to raise attention towards us as Peacekeepers were looking our way, expecting us to move along into the line. I tried to shush her so we wouldn't end up being dragged over to to check in, smiling at the Peacekeepers that were looking at us.

"Lyn, shut your mouth, or else we'll have to go in without Oliver." I told her, a little harshly, but it needed to be said if we wanted to see him at all before the Reaping.

"Stop being so tense, you're usually never like this on Reaping day!" She exclaimed loudly, not helping our situation at all, making me groan at how she just ignored what I had said. And before I could cover her mouth to physically get her to shut up, a Peacekeeper made their way over to us, a female voice speaking up.

"Should you two ladies be getting in line? I would assume that at your ages, you would know what happens to people who are late signing in." The woman said in a strict tone that sounded like she was attempting to be polite.

"We're waiting for a friend, we're going to get in line eventually. We don't need any of those underlying threats right before someone is about to be chosen to die, either." I didn't hold back, I didn't see why I had to, now that the Peacekeeper was here. Her stance changed a little, it was clear that I had ticked her off.

"I'll reword my sentence then. Get in line, now. I don't want to deal with sass from a pesky kid like you today." She said, venom in her voice. I was about to reply with a snarky comment when Lyndia grabbed my arm and tugged me away, nodding.

"We will ma'am, no need to worry." She told her quickly as we got into the queue to sign in, as I rolled my eyes once again, listening to Lyndia tell me how I had proved her point about being a drama queen by acting up with the Peacekeeper when she thought I didn't need to. I brushed her off, no longer wanting to think about the Peacekeeper, just wanting to get through today with a smile instead of a scowl. I let Lyndia go first, taking one last glance around before it was my turn to check in. Once checked in, we both walked slowly towards the sixteen year-old section, in hopes of finding Oliver in the crowd. But it was hopeless, so we gave up once we reached our destination. I had a good amount of things on my mind today, varying from the shop to my mother to my friends. But one thought that was screaming louder than any other right now was one that raised some worry in me. The thought of being Reaped.

 _ **Marcos 'Mark' Cortez, Aged 16**_

I sighed in content as I stared out the small window of my house, a canvas in front of me. It was early in the morning, about six. I could never really sleep past that time, but today's event didn't help whatsoever. Today was the day of the Reaping. Right now, I was trying to push the thought of the wretched Hunger Games out of my thoughts as I painted the scene in front of me with crushed berries. Whenever I found some or managed to save up enough to buy them, I would return home with them store them until I needed them, for a moment such as this. I couldn't manage to paint the exact colours of the beauty outside, but I believed I didn't need all the colours, I just wanted to paint this scene to remember it, how gorgeous it was. In the glass, I could see my faint reflection, seeing a jet-black haired, pale boy with hazel eyes staring back at me. He smiled softly at myself before focusing on painting once again. It was rare I got to paint the sunset or during midday as he weather became overcast and remained so for the rest of the day. So I eventually learned that the best time to get up to paint was around six, to see the sun rise and be able to paint it as much as I could before the clouds arrived and hid it.

Times like these were the best, silent and peaceful. It made me feel like I was almost in a world without the Games, without the Capitol, with the Districts. Even if it was just for a short while. I remained like this for as long as I could, and before I knew it my dad, Michel, was calling me to come into the kitchen for some breakfast. Time had passed like a breeze, I didn't feel like I had even finished it yet. I reluctantly stood up and took one last glance at my painting, wanting today's Reapings to pass quickly so I could return to paint the rest. As I turned, I stepped on something on the ground. That something turned out to be the book I was reading the previous night. It was pretty interesting, it was a fiction book, full of action. I didn't just read action books though, I read pretty much any book I could get my hands on. It was very obvious that I had an interest in books for the reason that my room was stuffed with them, any books that I could buy or that I found, just like the berries, I brought home. I leaned down and picked up the small but heavy book, placing it on my bed after marking my place. I walked out my door before backtracking, remembering that I needed to change. My dad would have gone nuts if he found out that I wasn't dressed, as he liked to leave early so that none of us were late. By us, I meant my older brother Alex, who was nineteen, my father and myself. It would have been my mom too, but when I was fourteen she had died from cancer. There was a lot of grieving in our house for almost a year, but we had to keep living, even if she wasn't here to anymore.

I looked at the clothes that I had set out the previous day, just a plain but simple outfit. A dark blue, collared shirt and some black pants. I pulled them on with ease and then finally made my way to the kitchen, my stomach grumbling in hunger as I neared it. I didn't actually feel too hungry, but I would be happy to eat whatever we had. Once I entered the room, I could tell instantly what we would be having for breakfast. Porridge. Not the most tasteful of dishes, but it was something. I took a bowl and filled it up with it, before sitting down across from my father, Alex sitting beside me. None of us spoke, we just remained in silence as we ate our breakfast. On a day like today, there was never much chat between us, the room usually was filled with worry. It didn't take too long to finish up my porridge, taking mine up and washing it quickly before putting it back in the small cupboard where we kept our plates and bowls. I could hear my father getting up afterwards as I cleaned very quickly, telling Alex to hurry up so we could leave, earning him a groan as a reply. After a more stern answer to his groan, Alex stood up and clean his own dish, then finally leaving with us. Once I stepped outside our small house, I realised how cold it actually was today. Most days were similar to this, the sun never stayed out for long and we were left with dark clouds instead. I walked alongside my father until we reached the Square, finding a few people milling around and some Peacekeepers finishing up setting up. My father shooed me off to go check in and I mumbled a few swears under my breath, not really understanding why I had to go and wait for the Reapings to start. My feet would be killing me by the time it would start. But I sauntered over to check in nonetheless, and only waited about two minutes before having my finger pricked. I winced slightly in pain but just wiped the blood away on my pants, it wouldn't be visible anyways.

I dragged myself towards the sixteen year-old section for the males and stood there and glanced around aimlessly as the Sqaure slowly filled up with teenagers and their parents, people milling in from all sides. Slowly, my section became packed, but thankfully, I was around the front, as near to the stage as I could be in my section, as a result of my early arrival with my father. I took a look around every now and then though as the place began to get busier, in hopes of finding Peyton, my girlfriend. We had been dating for about a year now, and I couldn't have been happier. When we were fifteen, I had developed the biggest crush on her and eventually, I learned that she felt the same feelings I did towards her, so I asked her out and we were dating ever since. Each time I looked around, I didn't see any sight of her and just as I was about to look again, one last time before the Reaping began, I felt a pat on my back. I jumped, a little startled from it but discovered once I turned around that it was my two closest friends, Jordan Crossfield and Noah Days. I grinned brightly at them and spoke for a short while with them, joking around until I heard the heavy doors of the Justice Building open, turning my head towards the stage to witness the event. Out first, came the mayor of Eight, followed by Eight's only living Victor, Tuelle Hemp. After her, came Eight's escort, Vittorio Dashiell. He looked like he was about forty but was still trying to stay young. He had stark white hair and spiked up and wore a suit that matched his hair colour with flecks of silver looking patterns across the suit. He didn't hold back and had his nails painted the same shade of silver and had heeled white boots on, with the same silver designing the pair of shoes. When he finally reached the microphone, his voice sounded as deep as always, but still had that perkiness that he had since he had became the escort for Eight.

"Welcome back, to all of you! And greeting to all your newcomers! Today is the Reaping for the 82nd Annual Hunger Games, are you excited?" Vittorio said, clapping his hands a little in excitement, though his questions was met with silence by the crowd.

"Why don't we watch a little video from the Capitol before we start, hm?" He asked, though the same usual video played straight afterwards. I zoned out, not paying any attention to it, paying more attention to the aching in my feet. I only looked back up when I heard Vittorio speak once again.

"Now that we've all seen our lovely video, we can begin! Let's start with.. the boys!" I feel every hair on my body stand as I watch Vittorio intently, only one thing on my mind. That the slip he chose didn't have my name in it. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, waiting for the name to be read out as he strutted back to the microphone after picking a slip.

"And our male tribute is.. Marcos Cortez! Come on up sweetheart!" He said with a cheery and excited tone, my stomach dropping to my feet as I registered the name as my own. I felt like throwing up and collapsing, this couldn't be happening. But it was. So I slowly began to move away from my horrified friends and brought myself towards the stage, forcing myself to remain emotionless. But as I climbed the steps, I couldn't hide the frown that appeared. And it wouldn't be leaving my face any time soon. I refused to speak, just glaring out into the quiet crowd. I didn't pay much attention to the escort as he walked over to the girl's bowl next, though when he started to return, I began to panic about Peyton being Reaped too. I couldn't handle that. I closed my eyes once again to hope and hope that her name wouldn't be announced to the District, and as Vittorio spoke again...

"Georgette Tafini!" He said the same excitement as before. "Where are you darling?"

There was a silence, then people began to look around for this girl who had been Reaped. Slowly but surely, a girl made her way out of the sixteen year-old section and was walking very slowly towards the stage before stumbling. I was persuaded she was going to fall, embarass herself in front of all of Panem. But someone caught her. A boy, from the seventeens section. He clearly knew the girl as they mumbled something before he gave her a gentle nudge onwards. From then on, thankfully, the girl didn't trip and walked up to the stage with shaky legs, escorted by Peacekeepers. Now that I could see the girl up close, I could see she couldn't stop biting her lip an when she reached the stage, it was clearly bleeding. It must have been a nervous habit. Once we were both standing on either side of Vittorio, he grinned out at the audience before looking back at us. "District 8's tributes for the 82nd Hunger Games, everyone! Marcos Cortez and Georgette Tafini!"

We were turned to each other to shake hands, and as we did so, the girl couldn't help but seem to break down a little, tears streaming down her face before we were directed into the Justice Building and into seperate goodbye rooms. I was still in shock about all of this. I was going into the Hunger Games.. I sat myself down on a velvet couch, my head in my hands. I didn't want to believe this was all true. I didn't even look up when the door opened, greeted by Alex and my father. I felt Alex pull me up and hug me tightly, so I pat hus back gently as I hugged him back. I knew that he felt guilty, that he would have volunteered if he wasn't too old. Just by a year. I spoke with them for a few moments, saying how I would try my hardest to come back. It was encouraging to hear my brother and father say that they truly believed in me. It felt like it they had only been here for a few moments though as Peacekeepers told us their time was up and that they had to leave. Alex looked me in the eyes and shoved a chain into my hand quickly before leaving behind my father, a scowl on his face. We had already lost my mother.. But I was beginning to fear that it would be my turn next. As I looked to see what the tokenlooked like, it turned out to be very simple. A chain with a clay, dark grey bead on it. I smile softly and put it on, just as the door opened once more. This time, Peyton entered and was in tears. I embraced her tightly and tried to comfort her as best I could, promising to return to Eight for her and my family. I couldn't stand the sight of her like this, it broke me heart, shattered it into millions of pieces. I kissed her gently one last time before she was forced to leave, having to be dragged out since she wouldn't comply and work with the Peacekeepers. After her, Jordan and Noah came to visit me, giving me words of wisdom and advice on what to do in the arena. I needed all the advise I could get right now, it could mean life or death in the arena. I told them that they would see me soon and to relax, that I wouldn't be gone forever. Even if I didn't feel like that may have been true. Now, with all my goodbyes out of the way, I only had one thing on my mind, something I couldn't avoid thinking about. I was going into the Hunger Games, whether I liked it or not.

 _ **Georgette 'Georgie' Tafini, Aged 16**_

I couldn't breathe, this couldn't be happening. This wasn't reality, I hadn't just been Reaped. But the truth was that I had been. No matter how much I attempted to deny it. I clinged to my mother the moment she ran in, sobbing into her chest, completely breaking down. My grandmother followed soon behind her, looking sorrowful. And the last person to enter the room was the Mayor, my future step-father.

"Georgie.. Everything will be okay.. You'll be okay darling, I promise.." My mother mumbled softly, trying to comfort me as much as she could. After a few more moments of sobbing, I pulled myself together, wipingmy eyes and looking at all three with a weary smile on my face.

"I'll be back, I promise. This won't stop me. I just was a little... shocked." I chuckled weakly afterwards, managing to make the others laugh too. I glanced over at Mayor Corduroy, who I still couldn't address as Cambric yet and sighed, smiling at him. "At least Oliver wasn't Reaped." I tried to be optimistic about the situation and clearly, so was he.

"Yes, you're right. But.. sadly you were. I believe you can make it back Georgette, you just need to try as hard as you can."

I nodded, trying to take in the advise from him. He always tried to help me as much as I could, whenever we saw each other. For the rest of the time that they spent with me, they all gave me advise, tried to keep the atmosphere positive and upbeat. It was hard to do so though with the situation that had presented itself. Soon enough, my family was being taken out again. I never wanted them to leave but they had no choice. My mother and the mayor began to leave, but my grandmother stood where she was, pulling out something for me. A bracelet made of different colour buttons. It almost made me cry again because that was her nickname for me when I was a child. She handed it to me and kissed me on the cheek before smiling warmly at me. "You fight as hard as you can Button."

Once they had all been escorted out, I put on my new token, feeling like I was about to break down once again. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was feeling the tight embrace of both Oliver and Lyndia. Thinking of it now, I was thankful that Oliver was the one who had caught me when I tripped. I could have fallen and for the rest of the Games be known as the girl who fell on her face during her Reapings. But as I thought more about the Games, more terror came into my mind. What if I could never see Oliver's black hair and green eyes again? Or see Lyndia and her big brown eyes and blonde hair? What if this was the last contact I would ever have with the two? I was starting to panic at the thought of never seeing my two best friends again, causing them to hug me even tighter.

"You won't die, right Georgie?" Lyndia spoke, her voice a little shaky. Even she was scared about all of this happening. I remained silent, unsure about what answer I could give her. Oliver spoke up next, pulling back from both of us to look me in the eyes.

"You can do this, you're older than some others tributes surely. You can survive, you can. Not everyone who wins can kill, like our Victor. You can do this." He told me sternly, frowning at me. Dying wasn't an option to Oliver anymore. I had to make it out.

"I will. I can, I swear." I told them, not sounding all too convincing. But I would, I had to. For my friends, for my family. For myself.

"You will. I know it and so does Lyndia."

"Yeah, you'll make it out! You'll get loads of sponsors too, just wait and see!" Lyndia sounded so positive, it made me feel so loved to know she thought such a thing.

Time flew by and soon enough, those dreaded doors opened once more and we were told our time was up. I hugged both of them tightly one last time and grinned brightly at them as they left. If I was going to die in that arena, I wasn't going to let their last memory of me be one where I was crying. But now that I was finally alone, everything started to sink in and I started to realise that if I were to live in there, I would need to show the Capitol everything I had to offer.

 _ **A/N: And there we go! District 8! I stuck to my schedule, just about, haha. Most of the week I was writing, I was just struggling as I got hit with some writers block. But since Friday I've had a hit of inspiration so I've been writing as much as I could. Thanks to And I'll Write Your Name and DrakonOwl21195 for these tributes! I hope I wrote them well! So, to the questions!**_

 _ **What do you think of Marcos?**_

 _ **What about Georgie?**_

 _ **Predictions?**_

 _ **What do you think of all these tributes so far?**_

 _ **And before I go, I must give a shoutout, again I know. But seriously guys, anyone I give a shoutout to, I believe is very talented and have a lot to give for their stories. So guys, I would really advise submitting to BittersweetSympathy's SYOT, Beginning of the End. They have a seriously awesome writing style and deserve to have more tributes submitted so they can reveal who's tributes got in and start writing their SYOT!**_

 _ **So with that, I'm finished 8, and am now moving onto 9! Only four more districts before things really start guys! Until then, I'll see you all in 9!**_


	11. Chapter 11 - District Nine Reapings

_** District 9**_

 _ **Ryan Willows, Aged 1 7**_

Yelling. It's the first thing I hear. But it has nothing to do with anyone being angry or in an arguement, in fact, the yelling is made up of laughter and excitement. From the living room, through the thin walls of our house, I can hear my younger, twin sisters playing with my two year old cousin. I smile sleepily to myself as I hear them all running in the room, squealing and laughing. I never really minded if they were loud, the girls never did so intentionally. I yawn and sit up lazily, stretching out my muscles as I glanced over at my fifteen year-old brother, Frank, who still happens to be passed out in his bed. He had always been a heavy sleeper so when our sisters, Harriet and Louise, and cousin, Carter, wanted to play loudly, it never bothered him. Unless the came in and jumped ontop of him, which had happened on more then one occasion. I rubbed my eyes and finally started to feel myself awaken, seeing the bright rays of sun through our thin sheet that we called a curtain. Seeing such good weather already made me smile, excited to get outside as soon as possible. I felt a bit of a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, remembering what day it was today. Reaping day. I sighed and shook it off, knowing that today didn't matter too much. It never did. Honestly, none of this did. The Games, the Capitol, any of that. It was just some sport they put on and made a big deal out of. The Reaping day wouldn't be any different from the rest of the Games. It didn't matter, at least not to be.

I never admitted this to my parents though, I couldn't from what they had been through. They both were absolutely terrified of the Games, of losing to their children to it like they had lost their family members. My father's sister had been Reaped and my mother's brother had been too. They ended up as District partners, in the same Games. It was tragic for them but eventually led to them meeting. And without that none of my siblings would have been born. I wouldn't have been. But even if they had met because of that, they still would always be afraid of any of us being Reaped, though the two girls weren't old enough to be Reaped and my older sisters, Kathy and Georgia. Both of them were in their twenties and either had a child or were expecting one. Kathy actually was the mother of Carter, and both lived with us, making the house feel even smaller.

I stood up after a few more minutes of sitting and pondering in my bed, not surprised when I heard creeks from the wood when walking towards the door of the room. I cracked open the door and left the room, leaving the door open so Frank would eventually wake up. I had plans to meet up with friends later anyways, Dean and Chris. They were my closest friends and we all had completely different personalities, but somehow managed to still befriend each other. Dean was the fliriest person you could meet, who tended to be a little arrogant at the worst of times. Chris was the exact opposite of that. He was what people defined as a nerd. Not to mention how awkward he could be in public situations. None of it was really his fault though, he didn't intend to be.

As I neared the kitchen, I could hear the chatter of my mother and sister. Carter and the girls playing in the next room and just as loud. I walked in and was greeted with friendly, warm but worried smiles. I avoided bringing up why as I found it unnecessary to do so. The two returned to their conversation as I made myself a small breakfast, just a piece of bread with a tiny bit of butter. I sat myself down on the chair as I bit into the food, observing the two in front of me before finally being pulled into the conversation.

"How did you sleep last night darling?" My mother asked in a calm tone, though you could hear hints of anxiousness in her voice.

"Like a log." He smiled softly at her as I ate my small breakfast, glancing over at my older sister who grinned at me.

"Glad to know at least you slept, with all the snoring you were doing." She teased me, her smile wide as she laughed at the expression of embarrassment on my face. I tore off a piece of the soft bread and chucked it at her, hitting her directly in between her eyes, in the centre of her nose and bursting out with laughter along with Kathy once we registered what I had done.

"How the hell did you do that so well?" Kathy asked in between gasps for air as she laughed hard, tears coming to her eyes as well as mine as we laugh hard. Eventually, our mother calmed us both down and we moved on with the conversation, occasionally letting out a giggle. But like it always did, we ended up talking about the Reaping. I could clearly see the fear in my mother's eyes and so I stood up after finishing my bread, brushing myself off before moving myself towards the doorway.

"Ryan, darling, just be.. be safe while you make your way to the Square." She spoke with a worried tone. You could almost hear the expression on her face, she as that nervous.

"I will be, don't worry. Nothing will happen, I'm a big boy." I turned my head to smile at her, in hopes of getting her to laugh but only earning a weak smile in return.

As I opened the door I was greeted by a sleepy and grumpy looking Frank, a scowl on his face. I just pat him on the shoulder and walked by him towards our room to get changed for the Reaping. I may not have cared but I knew that my mother did, whether she was terrified of the Games or not. But we were a very poor family so having luxurious clothing made of silk or otherwise was something we didn't pay too much attention to. We usually bought food, not expensive clothes. So when I opened up my shared closet with Frank, I didn't find much. What my mother had picked for me to wear was a tatty looking, hand-me-down blue shirt that had previously belonged to my uncles and then my father. Along with that was a pair of dark blue pants with many stitches in them from having worn them so often. It wasn't much and we all knew it, but I didn't really care. There was so much of us in the house, we needed all the money we could get, clothes weren't a priority. I helped out as much as I could to, and by that, I meant that I dropped out of school at the age of thirteen to help provide for my family. I got a job working in the fields in Nine and worked there ever since, giving any money I earned to my mother and father to pay for our house and our family. Because of this, I became very tan and freckled due to being outside very often, but I didn't mind that one bit. took out the worn clothes and put them on quickly, fixing my dirty blonde hair afterwards. It had always been

I took out the worn clothes and put them on quickly, fixing my dirty blonde hair afterwards. It had always been floppy looking so I never bothered doing with it, I just let it do it's own thing. It was the easiest thing to do. I didn't need to go check if everything was okay, I knew it was. This was as good-looking as I was going to get after all. I returned to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame with folded arms, staring at Frank. "Hurry your lazy butt up and get dressed so we aren't late." I told him, getting yet another groan in response from him. But after a few more bites of his bread, he got up and rushed back to our room and remaining there for about five more minutes. Finally, Frank steps outside the room in clothes similar to mine and we take off, calling goodbye to the rest of the family as we walked out the door. Neither of us spoke too much as we slowly walked towards the Square. I wasn't really sure how Frank felt about the Games, how the Reaping was for him, but I never really thought to. And I just preferred not to, if it wasn't necessary to bring up.

As we reached the Square, the queue for checking in was actually rather long. We had arrived at the perfect time, we weren't going to be standing around for too long waiting for it to start but we weren't the last people in the entire District to check in. I made my way into the line, Frank following after a few moments. He was only fifteen so he still had three more years left, whereas I only had one. In full honesty, it would be a joyful feeling to know that I wouldn't be able to be Reaped anymore, even if I didn't really care about the Games. I wondered over to the seventeen year-old section after my blood was taken, feeling the gentle breeze on my skin as the sun beat down onto the District below. Days like this were always my favourite, they always reminded me of why I loved being outside so much. It made working in the fields that slight bit easier. I scanned the crowd to see if I could find Dean or Chris. But there wasn't a sight of the two. I knew I could find them afterwards, they always lingered around after the Reaping so we could find each other and hang out. After a while I began to zone out, what I usually did during the Reapings each year. I heard noises that sounded like buzzing which I assumed was the escort speaking. But I didn't really pay much attention to anything, I shouldn't have to. So I just remained zoned out, rather bored looking until I suddenly heard a name being called into the microphone to echo around the District. I didn't hear anything else the escort had said. Just the name. My name.

"Ryan Willow!"

 _ **Celosia Lale, Aged 12**_

"I give up!"

Exclaimed Jerry, my nine-year-old brother. He was attempting to make a small bracelet out of string as a gift to Mom. But yet again, he wasn't succeeding and was becoming increasingly frustrated, eventually reaching his tipping point. Jerry was usually like this, very pessimistic and hopeless, constantly discouraging himself if he couldn't complete a task in the time thought he could.

"Jer, you don't have to, look. See, you're halfway through the bracelet already, it looks wonderful." My older, fourteen-year-old sister Soria spoke up, actually listening into the conversation for once. I roll my eyes to myself as I sat on the stiff, stone-like bed, my arms on my knees. Why couldn't Soria just leave him be? That's how life was eventually, one big disappointment. There was no point lying to him anymore, especially in a place like this. And by that, I mean jail. To explain properly, my entire family was in jail. Why? Because we stole. It wasn't just simple, one-off stealing, no, no. We stole bread and other sorts of food for a whole year. It first started when I was ten and I suggested stealing some bread from a local store. Well, actually, the District food store. We were desperate and in need of food, on the brink of starvation. So my family agreed and a week later, Jerry and I snuck into the store as we were the smallest in the household, and stole some food. At first, it wasn't too much, nothing noticeable. But we started to get a little cockier and stole more each time we revisited the shop during the night. But one night, after a year of stealing the goods, Jerry screwed up. While we were sneaking out, hands full of delicious foods, Jerry accidentally tripped the alarm, immediately raising awareness to the Peacekeepers that we were stealing. We panicked and didn't know where to run to, quickly being caught by the Peacekeepers. In the early hours of dawn, the rest of our family was arrested for being associated with the crime as well as encouraging it. And that was how we ended up in the hellhole. District Nine didn't have a criminal system. You were either killed, whipped or sentenced to jail for even such petty crimes as stealing.

"No! I don't want to do it anymore. I can't do this." He pouted at Soria and crossed his arms, giving up completely on his little project and leaving it on the cold, concrete floor.

Soria just sighed and picked up the bracelet, pocketing it before sitting herself down beside me on the bed and returning to her own world in the clouds. She had always been a huge daydreamer, so attempting to have a conversation with her usually failed. She blanked out constantly and would usually respond with 'Huh?'. Most of the time in our cell was spent either making small items or in silence. As a family, we never spoke much. Not since the arrest dad, Cass, never spoke much anyway. He was the strong but silent type, only speaking to give words of advice and wisdom to the rest of us. Daffodil, our mom, explained that he was that because his parents had disowned him long before we were born. They had done so because they found it disgraceful that their own son could ever love a poor person, that person being my mother. But he ignored their threats and married her anyways as Mom had said they were in love. It was sweet really, and I wasn't really a romantic sap. But knowing how they met was still cute, I couldn't deny it. Today was just another day where we starved in this rotting hole, another day of being mistreated by Peacekeepers. But it was a whole new day full of sarcasm and swear words from me and no matter what, I would always feel proud about that. I thought today was going to be the same as all the previous days. That was until a Peacekeeper showed up at our cell door for us all.

"Get up, ya' bunch of bums, it's Reaping day. Nobody is gonna be late, no matter where they are. Now get up." A thick accent came from the masked Peacekeeper, causing me to once again roll my eyes and purposely groan loud enough for them to hear.

"You gotta problem with that, little missy?" They obviously didn't have much patience as I could the irritation in their voice, like every other guard here.

"Nope, not at all. Just another day, dealing with you fatasses, bossing us around. Nothing new." I smirked at them, attempting to provoke them, even though I already had enough bruises on my arms from previous provocations of Peacekeepers. They considered it 'unruly' and 'disrespectful' behavior towards them. I simply answered back with saying it wasn't, it was only the truth. It was worth it each time though, to see their ugly faces speechless and shocked, it was priceless. But now that they were here, it suddenly reminded me of my 'big' plan. This would be my first year to have my name drawn out of the bowl at the Reaping. But that was the thing. I didn't plan on waiting for my name to come out of that god forsaken bowl. I planned to volunteer. To finally be free from the rotting jail and to finally have a better life for my family, once and for all. I knew that the Games were cruel but they were a very useful way to gain all the wealth you could ever want. Besides, I knew that Soria wouldn't volunteer, never in a million years. She wouldn't last two seconds in the Games, and we all knew it well. I felt very confident in who I was though, I could last longer and win. There wasn't any doubts about that. Okay.. maybe I might not, but being down and sad about it wasn't going to help me win, was it? No. So I was the only one who would get us out, I was the only one who was willing to volunteer. I was brought back to reality though when I heard the Peacekeeper snap at me.

"You watch your goddamn mouth, or else you'll regret it big time." They growled back at me, opening the cell door for the family to walk out of. Everyone was leaving the jail, all inmates had to attend, no matter what. I dragged myself up, along with the rest of my family and we began to depart the cell, Soria being the last one as she hadn't noticed the presence of the Peacekeeper the entire time. We left the dark cell and left the jail with everyone else, being escorted by guards and Peacekeepers to the Square. They didn't care how we looked on the day of the Reaping, it was the least of their concerns. So we all just wore the same dark and white shirt and pants and some black shoes. They almost wanted us to look bad. My waist-length, dark brown hair was all tangled and messy, so I really did look like I belonged in a jail. But I was very thin, like most other inmates, from being underfed. I had a unibrow as well, due to not really ever doing anything with my eyebrows. But it never bothered me, having a unibrow was never a bad thing. It was just as pretty as two eyebrows. But as we made our journey, I tried to trip them up a few times to make them look like idiots and threw a few stones at the helmets of the Peacekeepers to watch them spin around in confusion. Nobody really said anything to me or about what I was doing. Every single one of the inmates hated the monsters who kept us in our cells almost every day. Soria and I, along with a few more inmates who were still of age to be Reaped, were guided to check in and once we did, were let off to go to our designated sections. Soria just wondered aimlessly around until she managed to find her own section and I searched for my own, my sky-blue eyes darting around the area until I finally found it. Help was the last thing I wanted, especially today. I glanced around at the other twelve-year-old girls surrounding me, easily picking up the nervousness that emanated from them. I smirked to myself, knowing that they wouldn't have to be anxious for much longer. _Finally_ , the doors of the Justice Building and out came our useless mayor and our only living Victor, Farro Sorghum. Followed closely behind was the escort of Nine, Umberto Jovian, donning a pitch black suit and long, straight black hair in some sort of updo. Clearly going for a _'_ dark _'_ look this year, even his makeup being made up of shades of black. He looked absolutely ridiculous, like the entirety of the Capitol. They all were just a bunch of excited, dumb three-year-olds in adults bodies. I'd show them up though, I would show them that not all twelve-year-olds were weak and cried.

"Welcome! Oh, it's so wonderful to see you all again! Are you all excited?" His voice was far too high pitch for my liking, it made me want to punch myself repeatedly, it was that bad. Umberto was met with silence, besides an occasional cough in the audience. He carried on as if nothing had happened though, beaming out towards the crowd.

"Let's watch an awfully exciting video for you all before we begin, shall we?" Without hesitation, the video was played and he watched intently as if he actually enjoyed watching such a stupid thing. I blanked out the idiotic video and only focused on him again when it ended. "Now, let us begin with our darling boys!" He called, strutting over to the boys bowl and picking out a slip before returning to his place in the centre of the stage.

"The male tribute for District Nine is.. Ryan Willow! Come on up sweetheart!"

There was silence once again plagued the Square until finally footsteps could be heard. After a few moments of looking around to see who this Ryan was, it came clear it was a seventeen-year-old who seemed very distressed. He was trying to cover it up obviously, but it seemed that his distress and worry had gotten the better of him. He slowly dragged himself up to the stage, and once he was on it, the escort led him to his spot. "Would you like to say anything?" He asked in his disgustingly high voice. It almost made me consider not volunteering if I had to deal with him. I rolled my eyes to myself as the boy shook his head, missing his chance to make some impression to the Capitol. He should have taken the opportunity. How else were you to win the Games? To win, you needed help, mostly sponsors and to earn sponsors, you needed to stand out. Be different. I started to slowly become a little impatient, tapping my foot as I awaited the name of the girl to be Reaped. I took a deep breath and sighed as I watched Umberto strut his way over to the girls bowl this time, returning with a slip from the middle of the bowl. He slowly opened the piece of paper with his flashy grin still on his face as he announced the name of the second person to be Reaped.

"The female tribute for District Nine is.. Ryzee Omri!"

Suddenly there was a loud, terrified scream, coming from the eighteen-year-old section before a shivering girl stood out from the rest, shakily making her way towards the stage. She looked absolutely useless, honestly. She wasn't the least bit impressive and it was obvious that if she went into those Games, she would certainly be a bloodbath. But it wasn't about her. I wasn't volunteering to save her. I was doing this for my family. To save us. I knew what I needed to say, just two words and I would be the female tribute of Nine. I had to do this, it was now or never. I took one last deep breath before I put on a smug smirk and finally yelled the words that had played in my mind for so long.

"I volunteer!"

Gasps rippled through the Square as the words echoed. I began to walk from where I stood, keeping my smug expression on as I travelled up towards the stage. The girl who had been Reaped broke down crying, clearly overjoyed that she didn't have to go into the Games. But as I got closer to the stage, people began to realise that it wasn't a seventeen or eighteen-year-old that had volunteered. It was a twelve-year-old. I was guided up to the stage and once there, was led to the centre by the dark and annoying escort. "My, my! A volunteer! How exciting! What's your name darling?" He asked in his usual voice, really making me want to rip my ears off from being so close to him. But I had to ignore that impulse right now. Impressions mattered to the idiots in the Capitol, so I would give them one. "District Nine, my name is Celosia Lale! I'm twelve years old and I'm going to be this year's Victor and win this for my family!" I made sure to almost yell into the microphone, yanking it off of Umberto to properly talk into it. And by the looks of things, I did well. Everyone began to cheer and yell, making me feel proud, that my District had hope in me. It got even better as they began to chant my name, over and over, slowly progressing almost into a riot. Our mayor had to jump up and send Peacekeepers to help calm things down, while Ryan and I were escorted inside roughly, without finishing the Reaping properly or shaking hands. We were forced into separate Goodbye rooms to say our farewells to our families, but I knew well that I would only be saying 'I'll see you later'. I knew that my family would be upset and think it was goodbye forever, they would probably think I was nuts for volunteering, but I was doing this for them. I sat down with a satisfied smile on my face as I awaited the arrival of my family. I could explain to them why I volunteered, how it was going to help us all get out of that rotting cell. I waited proudly until it started getting a little late for visits. Had they gotten lost? Did they get held up somewhere and were trying to get in here? As I saw a Peacekeeper open the door, I scowled, coming to the realization that they hadn't allowed my family to visit and forced them back to the jail without any goodbyes.

"Hey, where the hell is my family?!" I yelled instantly at the Peacekeeper, standing up with rage burning through my veins. I was supposed to have goodbyes with them, why weren't they here?

"You're leaving." The Peacekeeper simply replied, grabbing my arm roughly and beginning to lead me out to take me to the train station with my partner.

"Where is my family! Tell me, you prick! I want to know now!" I wasn't getting any less quiet, just growing angrier, demanding to see them. Things were not supposed to go this way, this wasn't what I wanted, it wasn't what I planned.

"This is what happens when you stir up trouble." The answer was cold and harsh, and I shoved the Peacekeeper in hopes of knocking them off of me. But if anything, their grip just tightened, causing me to yelp in pain.

This wasn't fair. This wasn't how things should have gone, I needed to see my family. I had to explain why I had done this, to tell them we would have wealth and a new home when I returned. But that had been snatched away from me, I was getting punished because of almost starting a riot for volunteering. Knowing that I had to leave Nine without saying anything to my family, something for them to remember me by while I was gone, without getting even the smallest token infuriated me. But I would show the Capitol what I could do. I was going to make them pay. I was going to win the Hunger Games.

 _ **Ryan Willow, Aged 17**_

Everything felt like a blur. I heard my name, felt my feet bringing me towards the stage and heard a girl volunteer. I was so distressed at the time, I could barely think but when I heard yelling and chanting, it snapped me out of my daze for a short while. We had been practically dragged inside the Justice Building and shoved into Goodbye rooms. I sat down on the soft couch as my hands shook violently. I was in shock, I couldn't accept what had happened just yet. Before I knew it, I had been pulled into a tight hug. But not my one person, my entire family. Mom, Dad, Kathy, Georgia, Frank, and my twin sisters Harriet and Louise. They all were silent but the atmosphere was a dark and depressed one. We all knew well that the likeliness of my return wasn't very high. But it wasn't extremely low either. We all remained like this until Dad finally pulled away, causing the rest of the family to follow suit. I sat back down and smile wearily as I listened to my parents and elder siblings advice about staying alive in the arena. I let Frank tell me about how he was sorry he was so grumpy so often and that he wanted me to get out of the arena alive, not in a wooden coffin. Harriet and Louise tried to remain positive, telling me that I was going to get to see the Capitol and eat loads of food and see lots of pretty dresses. I couldn't help but laugh at how positive and innocent they both could be.

I tried to reassure all of my sisters that I would be fine, that I was going to survive. But I couldn't promise them that I would make it out of the arena alive. I couldn't make a promise that could potentially end up broken. My father handed me a plain, silver bracelet and told me to keep it as a token from home, mentioning that it was my grandmother's from Mom's side. She was far too upset to give it to me herself, we all knew if she did, she was going to end up breaking down into tears. I thanked him and took it, putting it on instantly before hugging my father one last time, along with the rest of my family. As they began to leave, as our time was up, I held Frank back by grabbing his wrist.

"Frank, you know I might not get out of there alive." I told him, serious about this. He turned his glance away, not wanting to discuss the fact that I could die.

"Ryan don'-"

"No, listen to me. You know it's true, that I might not. There isn't any avoiding it. But if I don't come out, if I die in there, you need to take care of Harriet and Louise. Don't let them take terrasse out because it won't be worth it. Do whatever you can to take care of them along with Mom and Dad." I told him quietly but sternly. I needed him to know this, as older brothers. He remained silent and just nodded his head. I pulled him into one last hug before he was forced out by a Peacekeeper. I took a deep breath to keep myself calm and keep my stress down.

After my family, Chris and Dean came in, and their visit was brief. They both were horrified and shocked that I had been Reaped, that neither of them had volunteered for me instead. A small part of my felt angry that they hadn't, felt like they weren't true friends for not volunteering. But I couldn't blame them, nobody wanted to die in the Games. Nobody here willingly wanted to enter the Games. Expect my District partner. I said goodbye to both of them, talking for a short while about how we had all been friends for so long and how I would miss them while I was gone. And like the snap of a finger, they had been taken out as our time was up. I sat back down on the couch, feeling my stomach flipping over itself millions of times. Things were slowly beginning to hit by now and all I could think about was one thing. Why me?

 _ **A/N: Finally, District Nine! Ugh, I know, three weeks without an update, I'm sorry! I had a hard time writing this chapter as I usually struggle with one part of each, but this lasted a while. Not to mention exams. Thankfully, I finished Thrusday. I was supposed to post on Sunday, but ended up crying multiple times from stress, so I couldn't focus. And when I write, I want to be in the zone, I don't write something if it's half-assed. Either way, here we are! Only three more districts! Thank you to maddymellark and RedRoses1000 for these tributes! Now that it's close to summer, I should be more active! So, the usual questions!**_

 _ **1\. What do you think of Ryan?**_

 _ **2\. What's your thoughts on Celosia?**_

 _ **3\. What did you think about the volunteering and the close riot?**_

 _ **4\. Which District, do you think, has the best chance of winning so far?**_

 _ **With that finished, I will leave you with this and will start Ten instantly! I'll see you all then!**_


	12. Chapter 12 - District Ten Reapings

_**District 10**_

 _ **Angelique "Angel" Gibson, Aged 17**_

"Ugh, she's just so annoying! She always has to show me up, make me seem absolutely useless! I'm just basically in her shadow!" I ranted to my best friend, Jana Bright. She nodded her head in response to show that she's listening to my rambles and continued to smile softly as I gave out about my family. They truly were annoying at times. No matter what they did.

"Well, maybe you should try to show your parents what you can do too? I'm sure Maise isn't that bad as you think she is." Jana responded, clearly trying to remain optimistic about the situation even though I had made it very clear I didn't want to be. I rolled my eyes and snorted, tapping my foot impatiently as I crossed my arms.

"They don't care. I'm just that stupid adopted daughter that will never actually fit."

"Angel, it isn't like that! You know that!"

"It _is_ like that."

Jana let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head, her shoulder-length, strawberry blonde hair moving with her. "You're just being a drama queen." She said with a joking smile on her face. I wold have snapped at her, of it wasn't for the fact that it was Reaping day. Yelling at my only friend was probably not a good idea to do. "Now, I need to go so I can help Mom out at home. Today is stressful enough for her, so I might as well help her as much as I can." She spoke with such a positive, upbeat tone it made me roll eyes again. Jana stood up though and ruffled my hair quickly before I could swat it away harshly, moving over to the door of my bedroom. "I'll see you later!" After that, she was gone. She bid a due to my parents and left the house, leaving my alone in my room. No matter what anyone told me, I would always believe that my 'family' didn't actually care about me. They never even planned to tell me I was adopted. The story behind that was long and it annoyed me to even think about it all. To make a long story short, my _real_ mother was killed in a Peacekeeper misfire when I was only a baby, a few weeks old. And at the stage, my _real_ father had depression and decided to drop me into the closest orphanage he could. He was real alright. Real lousy. I haven't seen him to this day and never planned to search for him either. I wasn't going to waste my time on him. Thankfully I didn't grow up in that orphanage because only two days after being dropped in, the Gibson family arrived and adopted me as quick as lightning. They wanted another child to accompany their young daughter. So that's how I became part of the family, believing for years that I was their biological daughter. How I knew all of this? One day, when I was thirteen, I was searching through a memory box of mine, looking through all my drawings and pictures from school and when I was a toddler. Just enjoying myself really, reminiscing when I discovered a piece of paper at the bottom of the box. A certificate of adoption. When I had found it, I was horrified that I had never even been told that I was adopted and ended up confronting my 'mother' about it. What made things worse was that I looked very similar to them. I had black hair, they had dark brown, which at times, to me, look very similar. I just believed for a long while I had an even darker shade of brown. My father and Maise had dark brown eyes, which I had too. So it was obvious why I believed I was actually related to them. And what made things worse was that I would have never actually thought I was adopted if I hadn't found that goddamn certificate! ..So maybe it wasn't a very short story, but that's what happened. Ever since then, I made it clear that I didn't want to be apart of the family, I made it clear that I was different from them.

Of course, today was the day they worried and seemed more concerned for Maise than any other day. Because today was the day that two teenagers were Reaped for the Hunger Games. Personally, i didn't actually mind the Games, I thought they were always fun to watch and see how they panned out as it continued. But _obviously_ my family had to think the absolute opposite, finding the Games gruesome and terrifying. They made such a big deal out of it, everyone died eventually. Some sooner than others. I groaned to myself thinking about having to leave my room to listen to the whining of my parents about today, about their concern. It was just plain irritating, it was clearly a façade. But I knew I had to leave eventually, I couldn't allow myself to be late. So I got up from my bed after a few moments, flinging open the doors of my wardrobe to be greeted by my clothes. After a few more minutes of stalling, I removed a silk green dress from the wardrobe, along with some green flats and changed into the dress, pulling on the flats afterwards. Thankfully the dress wasn't extremely long, only reaching my thighs. I glanced down to take one last proper look at myself, staring at the scar on my arm. It was a burn, from when I was younger. Honestly, thinking about it made me laugh at how stupid I was. I was trying to cook something for myself and ended up touching a very hot part of the hob, burning my arm pretty bad. I sighed and left the room to finally face the rest of my family, a scowl resting on my face. As I walked to the living room, I could hear them all talking, worry evident in Mom and Dad's voices. I stood by the door frame and leaned on it, crossing my arms as they turned they glance to me. Maise was the first to speak, grinning widely at me.

I sighed and left the room to finally face the rest of my family, a scowl resting on my face. As I walked to the living room, I could hear them all talking, worry evident in Mom and Dad's voices. I stood by the door frame and leaned on it, crossing my arms as they turned they glance to me. Maise was the first to speak, grinning widely at me.

"Angel, you look amazing in that! Seriously, green is something you need to wear more, it's really your color!" She was being so sweet and so positive that it was actually beginning to bother me.

"Thanks." I simply replied with, seeming unimpressed with them as silence fell upon us once again. Another few minutes passed before Mom finally spoke up, smiling gently at me.

"Angel, why don't you do something with your hair? It's so plain, and it's always good to make an impression." She suggested, just annoying me further. I glared at her and in return I received a hurt look, causing me to roll my eyes but quickly put my hair into two plaits.

"Happy?" I said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Very."

An exasperated sigh came from my father's mouth and he raised an eyebrow at us all as if to ask if we were done. He clearly wasn't in any sort of mood to deal with my sarcasm. "Finished?" He asked seriously, not taking the Reaping lightly. But they wouldn't have to worry after this year, Maise was eighteen after all. Nobody have two flutes about me, they just cared for their _real_ daughter. Not their fake one.

We all nodded, and my scowl returned to my face as we began to depart our household. Just before we stepped out the door, I felt a hand grip my arm firmly, causing me to glance back to see who was trying to stop me. Of course. It was my father, my mother standing right by his side, Maise by the door.

"Angelique, I want you to behave and act respectable for the Reaping, okay?" He said in a serious and strict time. He was always like this, a quiet, stern man who only spoke when needed. My expression immediately turned to one of disgust, offended from being told that I needed to behave. Like some toddler! My face began to burn red in anger, glaring at him with my mouth open as if I was about to speak when my mother spoke up.

"We only want to be sure that you don't say anything you may regret darling. We are all aware that you can be very temperamental at times."

I pulled my arm away from my father's grip and glared at the two of them and turned, starting to walk ahead, past Maise who seemed concerned about how I was feeling. "Real faith I see you have in me, totally feeling the love." I grumbled as they followed closely behind, Maise walking right by my side. I threw a glare at her and growled at her to leave me alone, but it didn't seem to put her off staying by my side. Again, showing me up by seeming like some goddamn angel. I was almost thankful that we reached the Square, I could get away from all of them for a short while, and hopefully find Jana. She was the only person I could tolerate, who I didn't talk about behind her back. Maise hugged our parents goodbye and tried to keep them relaxed, even though she was nervous herself. After this year, she was no longer eligible for the Games, which probably relieved the entire family. I just turned away and walked towards the line, wanting to check in as soon as possible. I did so, and walked slowly over to the seventeen-year-old section, glancing around as I searched lazily for Jana. It didn't take too long to spot her and once I had, I stood beside her with a faint smile on my face. We didn't have time to talk because the next thing we knew, the doors of the Justice Building were open. Our mayor made their way out, followed by our Victor, Elsie Knight. And tagging along right behind them was Ten's escort, Rangvald Diedrich, who was dressed in both silver and golden. It honestly looks better than past colours and outfits she had worn. She was wearing a suit which looked almost like it was really made out of gold, it looked that heavy. Her hair, nails and even her eyes were silver. I attempted to zone out and ignore what was happening, but Jana noticed this and pinched me, causing me to curse at her quietly for a few moments until Rangvald's voice boomed through the Square.

"Hello, District Ten! It's so great to see all of your lovely faces again! So, let's get started, shall we? After all, we need to start the 82nd Hunger Games!"

Now, after the whole year, we would find out who would be going to the Capitol and dying. The only person I hoped wouldn't be Reaped was Jana. She was my only friend. But it wasn't likely to happen. Besides, the worst that could happen was Maise being Reaped. Or better yet, me.

 ** _Brendon Stump, Aged 15_**

"Brendon!"

I heard a voice shriek from the room next to mine, causing me to burst out in laughter. Pranking my nineteen-year-old sister Ariana was always hilarious as she always reacted. There was always a way to get a reaction out of her, whether it was good or bad. I couldn't stop my laughing, even when Ariana barged into the room, glaring at me, soaking wet. I had used the old, bucket on the door prank, and boy, was it funny. I could bearly breathe, I was laughing so hard. I didn't even care that she was yelling at me, I found it brilliant.

"I cannot believe you! On Reaping day too! I should throw the ashes of our fire at you and lock you out for doing something like that!" She exclaimed, clearly furious.

I wiped a joyful tear from my eye an grinned widely at her, letting out small bursts of giggles as I spoke.

"It was just a prank, you don't need to get so worked up. Besides, you aren't even able to be Reaped anymore." I was struggling to keep my laughter under control as I stood up. It didn't last long and I ended up bursting out again and dashed out of the room, earning a smack to the back of my head on the way out. Seeing her like that was priceless. I ran straight into the kitchen with a large smile on my face, greeted by my mother and two others sisters, Jade, who's six and Catelyn, who's sixteen. My mother sighed, looking pretty stressed. But it didn't really bother me, she would get over it and calm eventually. After all, the Games were pointless and stressing out over it just made things worse.

"What did you do Brendon?" She asked as I sat down, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me with suspicion.

"I was just messing around with Ariana!" He said defensively, a big grin still on my face as I spoke. And soon enough, Ariana was storming into the kitchen, her hair now somewhat dry.

"He needs to stop Mom!"

"Maybe you should just move out." I said nonchalantly with a shrug, smiling gently to myself at how angry I had managed to make her.

"Butt out! I'm talking to Mom!"

"I was just pointing it out though."

"Just shut up, this is why you have no friends, everyone thinks you're crazy, because of the stupid crap you pull!"

I went silent after that and sighed, glancing down at the table as I listened to my mother and Ariana speak to each other.

"Ariana Stump, how dare you say much a thing to your brother, apologize. Now." She spoke with a stern tone, looking over at her eldest child.

"But it's true, why should I have to?!"

"Ariana!"

Everything went silent for a moment and I looked up, finding my mother staring angrily at my sister. The tension between the two was so thick, I could have cut it like a cake if I tried.

"You are finished being Reaped. Catelyn and Brendon still have the chance. You are nineteen years of age, start acting like it. Just because you are angry about a small prank, does not mean to can take it out on the household. Do you understand?"

Arina nodded and glared daggers at me before leaving the kitchen, angrily departing to her room.

It wasn't the first time she had mentioned that I had no friends. I knew I didn't, so it wasn't exactly a lie. The reason for this was because when I was younger, my father had died. I grew up without much of a father figure in my life and because of this, everyone thought I was a little 'different'. People called me crazy and insane, even though it wasn't really true. I just thought differently from them, my jokes and pranks were better than theirs. My antics reached a new level of funny. So I spent most of my time with my family as they were the closest thing to friend that I had. I never minded being called names though, it never really bothered me.

"Brendon."

A voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I glanced up to find it was Catelyn's.

"Don't mind Ariana, we all know she's just acting like a brat." She smiled gently at me, as if she was making an attempt to cheer me up. I smiled back at her and chuckled, nodding.

"She always is when I prank her." I chuckled again and turned to smile at Jade, making a funny face at her to get her to laugh. And sure enough, she imitated the silly face and burst into a fit of giggles. She was still young and didn't understand the concept of the Hunger Games yet, and none of us could really tell her right now. Finally, after Jade's giggles died down, my mother spoke up again, though she was pretty quiet this time. "Go get changed you two, the Reaping begins soon and we don't want to be late." We both nodded and got up from where we are sitting and began to travel back to our rooms. I didn't bother saying much since I could see Catelyn had things on her mind, so I let her stick to them. I walked back into my bedroom, avoiding the trail of water that Ariana had left bein behind her from storming into my room. I took a flick through my small closet to get something to wear, something that my mother deemed formal enough for the Capitol. What I had out was black blazer, a grey button-up shirt that was a little too big for me since it used to be my father's, and some nice looking jeans. Smart casual, almost. I quickly made my way into the bathroom before Ariana took it, wanting to make sure I looked somewhat okay so Mom would let me go without any hassle. I looked on the cracked mirror, finding a scrawny boy with dark brown eyes and dark hair looking back at me. I quickly fixed my hair, fixing it so it looked like the style it should have. Shaved on one side with the rest of my hair flipped over to one side, off of my face. I smiled at my reflection before moving away and leaving to return to the kitchen. Once I entered the room again, my mother had finished cleaning whatever she needed to and smiled weakly at me, picking up Jade. "You look like a young man, just like your father." She said quietly before looking down and sighing deeply. Even now, she was still getting over his death. "Once the girls are ready, we will leave, though they really need to speed things along." Just as she spoke, Catelyn walked back in, in a simple outfit, just a dress and some flats. Now we were just waiting for Ariana. She took another ten minutes to finally emerge from her room, now that she was satisfied with how she looked. But because of that, we basically had to run to the Square to get their on time. I didn't really think it mattered but my mother didn't really want anyone in the family to get whipped for their tardiness. The Peacekeepers growled at Catelyn and I but we made it just in time, as our escort came out. I walked over to the fifteen-year-old section and just stood, watching what unfolded up on the stage like everyone else. We all listened to Rangvald's speech, though it honestly pained me to do so. I tried to focus more on the idea of how she would ever react to being pranked.

"So, just before we begin, we can watch a video just for you all! Yes, I know, I know, how boring, but then we can get to the best part!" She said into the microphone as the video played on the screen, causing me to just look around in boredom instead. I had gotten sick of the video a long while ago, right after my first Reaping. Thankfully, it didn't last too long and my attention was brought back to the stage.

"Now! Why don't we start with.. the girls! Have a little change from last year, hm?" Rangvald strutted over to the bowl filled with girls names, grinning and she stuck her hand into the bowl, pulling out a slip. She strutted right back to the microphone and began to open up the slip.

"Who is our lucky girl? Hm... the female tribute for District Ten is Angelique Gibson! Where are you dear?" Immediately, a girl broke down from the eighteens section, probably the girl who had just been Reaped. But it turned out that I was wrong. Instead, a girl from the seventeen-year-old section laughed sarcastically and stepped out and began to walk up to the stage. The expression on her face wasn't upset or angry, on fact, she looked as if she was about to say ' _Did you seriously just say my name?'_. She was guided up quickly by Peacekeepers and once she reached the steps, Rangvald practically dragged her to the centre of the stage, beaming widely as she brought Angelique towards the microphone. "Do you have anything to say dear?" In response, Angelique glared at her coldly, making Rangvald take a step away.

"Oookay, so you aren't in the mood today, that's alright. Why don't we move onto the boys instead?" She shook off the coldness and moved on, grinning as she walked over to the boys bowl, doing the same as she had done before and returned to the microphone, near Angelique. "And the male tribute representing District Ten is.. Brendon Stump!"

I froze to the spot when I heard by name come from her mouth. I never really cared about the Games, they were interesting to watch, but I never wanted to actually go into them. As people began to stare, I realised I needed to do something before I was dragged up to the stage by Peacekeepers. And that was the last thing I needed. I laughed shakily and smiled, beginning to walk from my spot towards the stage, glancing around. As I near the stage, I stumble a little over my own feet and blush bright red in embarrassment. I almost fell flat on my face. After that, I rushed onto the stage to prevent any further chances of falling, smiling weakly at Rangvald.

"Anything you want to say?"

I shook my head and smiled weakly again at the cameras, even though I was screaming and shaking on the inside out of nervousness. I glanced over to the escort when she spoke again, the news beginning to sink in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this year's tributes from District Ten! Angelique Gibson and Brendon Stump!" She said proudly, turning us to shake hands. But instead of doing that, my District partner just turned away from me and stormed into the Justice Building, leaving me there with a shocked expression for a few moments before I was led in by Peacekeepers. Once in the room, I stood there, more surprised than anything about what had happened. I had actually been Reaped...

"Brendon! Oh, my little boy!" My mother rushed in, followed by Catelyn and Ariana, with Jade in her arms. All three of them were in tears, expect for Jade. She didn't really understand what was actually happening.

I felt my mother envelop me into a tight hug as she cried, shaking violently. "I can't lose you, you're my only son, my little boy. I've already lost your father. Please, Brendon, you need to win!"

Catelyn had to pull her away, attempting to calm her down before she became hysterical. "Breton, please, try win. We can't lose you, we love you." She said with a shaky voice, tears streaming down her face. I didn't know what to say, what to do or how to act. Everything was still surprising me.

"I'll try.. I don't know if I can.." I mumbled, smiling softly at her in hopes of reassuring her in some way that I would survive.

"Just try." Ariana spoke suddenly, looking upset. "I'm sorry about being a brat this morning, just please.. Try make it out."

I nodded and pulled them all into a family hug, a lasting one until we heard the Peacekeepers open the door, coming in to take my family away. My mother was crying her eyes out, causing even more Peacekeepers to come in and tear my family away from me.

Once the door slammed shut, I was left alone in the silent room to think about my fate. Suddenly, I didn't feel like laughing or pulling pranks or any of my usual antics. But I couldn't change. I wouldn't. The one thing I wouldn't allow to happen to me as change inside that arena. It wasn't an option anymore.

 _ **Angelique "Angel" Gibson, Aged 17**_

This was ridiculous, this couldn't have actually happened. I had actually been Reaped. I usually stood with the Capitol, there wasn't any point in fighting them.. But I was honestly a little shocked. But by the time my family came through the doors of this room, I had managed to get over my shock. Maise and my mother were in tears and my father had a stone cold look on his face. It looked like they actually cared for once. Before I knew it, Maise had pulled me into a tight hug, crying into my shoulder until I shoved her away from me.

"Angel, I-I'm so s-sor-"

"Don't be, you did a great job volunteering. Really saved my life." I spat out bitterly, glaring at her. Maise had the chance to volunteer. But she didn't.

Tears spilled from her red and puffy eyes, running down her cheeks as she stared at me in horror.

"Angelique! Ho-"

"It's true, don't try and defend her! I'm the one going into the Games!" I couldn't believe them, even now, when I was Reaped. They still sided with Maise.

I glared at them all and gulped, shaking my head and turning away from them all. "Just go." I muttered, crossing my arms.

"Angel, please don-"

"Just. Go."

After a few minutes of silence there's some shuffling in the room and the sound of the door opening. I hear Maise speak one last time before the door shuts.

"We will always love you Angel. No matter what." And with that, she closed the door. I stood there and waited for Jana, forcing myself to block out any regret I felt. Soon enough, Jana stepped through the door and ran over to me, hugging me as soon as she could. I let her, finding it oddly comforting. I didn't blame Jana as much as she was a friend, not actual family.

"Angel, I'm so sorry!" She said immediately, hugging me tightly. I sighed and hugged her back but soon pulled away. "It's fine. I don't blame you. But let's not spend our last time together crying and apologising." I sighed and smiled a little at Jana, cheering her up a little. Aftet that, we spoke about when we were younger and all the fun times we had together. By the time the Peacekeeper came in to take Jana out, we giggling a bunch, enjoying each other's company. But time was up and I hugged her tightly, smiling weakly as she spoke.

"Win this Angel. Show the Capitol what you can do." She was guided out afterwards, leaving me all by myself. I would do just what Jana said. I was going to show them all who I really was.

 _ **Hey guys, sorry this is late again! I've been getting writers block once each chapter, sometimes it hits harder than usual, now being one of those times. But it's up! Thank you to RedRoses1000 and TheSubmitter for these tributes! And to clarify, Angel's family do love her, very much. She is just very stubborn and refuses to believe that. So..**_

 _ **1\. What did you think of Brendon?**_

 _ **2\. What did you think of Angel?**_

 _ **3\. Any favourites?**_

 ** _Another thing I would like to add is that I will probably be taking away the sponsor system, I've been thinking about it and I just don't know how to properly incorporate it. But this won't affect anyone in any way, trust me. I have everything planned out up to the bloodbath. Just needed to say that. We are very close to finishing the Reapings, just two more left! I'll see you guys in Eleven!_**


	13. Chapter 13 - District Eleven Reapings

_**District 11**_

 _ **Trey Cormick, Aged 18**_

Today was like any other day in Eleven. Roasting hot. The sun was beating down on all the workers in the fields, which included myself. Sometimes I felt bitter about the weather here, about why it was so hot. But I knew that if we didn't have such good weather, we would probably end up like District Eight, full of smog and factories. And that was the last thing I wanted, it would destroy the environment, the trees, fruit and vegetables and wildlife. It would just end up destroying nature in Eleven. So I dealt with the heat like all the other citizens did, trying to make it throughout the day without starving or getting sunstroke. My job in the fields currently was weeding, which kept me busy right until I finished my shift. Usually at the beginning of the season, I plant and hoe seeds, which isn't my favourite part of my job, but it was usually better than weeding. It was long, arduous and left my hands feeling sore and stiff very often. But I did what I could to help provide for my father and I. It was just the two of us as my mother had died of heatstroke long ago. I did miss her, but I had to keep moving on and so did Don, my father. We were handling it well, we didn't let it get in the way of our daily lives, like other might. Grieving and mourning wouldn't feed us, working would. And that was exactly what I was doing. I was in the fields, pulling weeds under the hot sun, panting a little as I carried out my duties. I started to hear a voice but paid no attention to it as I assumed it was someone just getting yelled at for doing a sloppy job or stealing.

"Trey!"

I frowned, straightening my back and glancing around after hearing a faint voice calling my name. I did this for a few moments before sighing and returning to my work, assuming that my mind was just tricks on me due to the heat, which meant I needed to drink some water soon. Dehydration in this type of weather was lethal and I very much enjoyed living, even if I wasn't rich.

"Trey!" I heard the voice again and stood up once again, looking around in confusion as it sounded closer than last time. After a few minutes of confusion, I spotted Sod and Mal, my two closest friends, walking towards me. Well, Mal was walking. Sod had decided to run towards me and in the process, tripped over what I could only guess a weed I hadn't gotten to yet. Both Mal and I burst into laughter as Sod got up off of the ground, ignoring what had just happened with a wide grin and continued to run over to me. After a few minutes, Mal reached us both so we could all finally talk.

"Thanks for making me feel like I was going a little crazy Sod." I said sarcastically before smiling weakly. Work always tired me out, and during the Reapings, I knew for sure that I would be exhausted.

"That's my job!" Sod replied, seeming proud of himself.

I rolled my eyes and glanced at Mal, who was looking around to make sure that nobody would yell at either of them for being out in the fields, at least this part. Mal always wanted to follow the rules, make sure everything was in check. After all, he hoped to become an overseer in the future. I just wanted to have food so I wouldn't have to starve for another day.

"You know that the Reaping is in an hour, right?" Mal spoke up finally, raising an eyebrow at me as I tossed the dead weeds into a bucket I carried around with me. I just nodded and picked up the heavy object filled with weeds, beginning to walk by the two, and back to dump the contents of the bucket into the waste. "I was finishing off my work. I take pride in how these fields look, you both are well aware of that." I told Mal and Sol as they followed behind me.

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Hurry your lazy butt up, I want to see something." Sol said excitedly, practically jumping up and down as we walked along, close to the waste pile. Both Mal and I groaned as we caught on to what Sol meant. We had all been friends for long enough to know that Sol had planted some prank and was waiting for a Peacekeeper to fall victim to it. They seemed to be his favourite people to prank, telling us that their reactions were priceless.

" _You_ can go check out whatever you did, I don't want to get chased by Peacekeepers, it's hot enough today already, I don't want to sweat any more than I already am." Mal obviously wasn't in the mood for any pranks today, since his thoughts were more than likely on the Reapings.

I never paid too much attention to the Hunger Games, I had more important things to worry about, like feeding myself and my father, keeping our jobs, keeping a roof over our heads. Work kept me as busy as I could be as I had dropped out of school when I was fourteen. I didn't attend school much anyways, I would always try to help my father with work as much as possibly. Besides, it just cost my father more money that could be used on things far more valuable. But because I had dropped out at that age and rarely attended I had left with a very primitive education. I could bearly read anything or write. But Mal and Sol could read things in a zip and had better handwriting than I did. They still were attending school after all, working here after school, during the weekends or any time they were free. It got me down sometimes when I compared myself to them, but I would always force it out of my mind. I was just as good as them. I listened to Mal and Sol bicker as I tossed everything into the waste, placing the bucket down afterward.

"You know, we should get going before we're late." At the start of my sentence, I was smiling, though by the end of it, it had disappeared. We were all aware of what had happened the previous year to a sixteen-year-old girl. She was late for the Reapings and as a result, she ended up getting whipped in front of the District. Anytime anyone was late, that's what they did. To strike fear and worry into us. But things used to be worse, from what my father told me. He said people used to get shot for stealing a loaf of bread. So being whipped was almost like an upgrade.

"..You're right. I'll, uh.. See you guys later." Mal mumbled quietly before turning to leave, waving quickly as he left. He seemed so caught up with thinking about the Games and about being Reaped. But you couldn't blame him.

"Jeez." Sol said, sounding rather confused. "Why's he suddenly being such a downer?"

I just shook my head and sighed, starting to walk away as I heard Sol following close behind me.

"I need to get back home. I don't want to get whipped. You should be too." I simply replied, hearing Sol's footsteps stop behind me.

"Fine. I'll go by myself." He muttered bitterly and turned around, storming off in the opposite direction.

As I walk away, I started to feel like a lousy friend for not going with Sol, but I brushed off the feeling quickly. I needed to get home and get changed and because my home was half an hour away from these fields I worked at, I needed to leave as soon as possible. There would always be more opportunities to go see Sol's pranks after all. So I journeyed home, taking in my surroundings as I walked home. I couldn't ignore how beautiful nature looked, especially on such a hot day like today. Everything seemed calm and relaxing, it honestly made you forget about the oppression and terror people faced in Eleven for a short while. It felt like we almost were free from the grip of the Capitol. But we would always be brought back to the harsh reality of life by the Peacekeepers or the Games in some way. Time flew by and just like that, I had arrived outside the small shack I called home. It wasn't much but it was something that kept me safe during the night. I walked in, greeted by a small room that served as both the kitchen and the living room. Sat at the table with a newspaper in hand was my father. He looked worn out and drained from working. He worked lengthy hours, and his workplace treated him like dirt. But he never uttered a word about it, he never complained about them or brought it up. He just continued to work to provide for us both. I truly admired him for that. He glanced over the paper and smiled wearily at me, nodding before returning to reading. We didn't buy things like the newspaper usually, so it was a little treat for him. I smiled back at him and made my way out of the room, and brought myself to my small, bare room. Very few things occupied it, only necessary objects like a bed and wardrobe. I instantly walked over to the wardrobe and scanned through the little amount of clothes I owned. I quickly picked a plain white shirt, though it had a few stains on it. I shrugged, finding that it wasn't the most important matter on hand, so I moved on and chose my favourite jeans to go along with it, even though the jeans were tattered. It wasn't _that_ much of a problem. I threw on the outfit and left my room straight away, glancing at the old clock we had in the kitchen when I walked in. It was half past nine, which was perfect. I would get to the Reapings in time, but I had to leave immediately in order to do so. I nodded at my father again and he returned it before I walked out the door in silence, traveling towards the Square. My father and I never spoke much due to being so exhausted and drained all the time from work, but just from a nod or smile, we knew what we meant well towards each other. We didn't really need to speak.

Once I reached the Square, I searched for Mal and Sol, though I couldn't see either of the two in the crowd of faces. In the end, I gave up and got into the queue, the tiredness from my work earlier beginning to set in. I yawned sleepily just as it was my turn to come forward hand check in, causing the impatient Peacekeeper to yell loudly at me to hurry up. I blinked in shock but stepped forward hurriedly and once I had been checked in, I was dismissed and told to go to my designated section. I did so in a hurry so I wouldn't have to deal with any more irritated guards. I stood in the middle of a large crowd of eighteen-year-old boys, with a blank expression. My exhaustion had hit me like a ton of bricks and I was finding it hard to even stand up. I just wanted everything to pass by quickly so I could go home and pass out on my bed. I was so focused on staying awake and not falling asleep on the spot, I didn't even notice that our mayor, last remaining Victor and escort had come out and were on stage. I was only brought back to reality when I heard the escort speaking into the microphone, noticing what she was wearing in the process. An outfit that was silver and was as shiny as could possibly be. She looked like a ship, ready to take off. The sun didn't help the situation, just making the outfit glint and shine even more. It was a hazard to the eye, it is was practically blinding.

"Okay, now that we have that over and done with, why don't we move onto the best part! Let's begin with.. the handsome young men!"

I felt so drained and drowsy that I began to lose focus again, putting all my strength into remaining awake long enough for the Reaping to end. Maybe working today was a bad idea, I could hardly keep my eyes open. Right up until I heard our escort speak, I struggled to keep my eyes open and focused on what was happening.

"Our male tribute is.. Trey Cormick!"

 _ **Helena Patil, Aged 14**_

"This tastes horrible, I hate this." Yvette complained as she pushed her plate of food away from her, a disgusted look on her face. I rolled my eyes in response and shook my head at her. I could feel myself growing agitated by her constant complaints.

"Well, it's the only food we have so just eat it." I snapped, scowling angrily at her from across the table.

"I'm not going to eat something that tastes like crap!"

"Why can't you do anything without hating it?!"

"Okay! Enough!" My eldest sister Keely spoke loudly as she entered the room to stop Yevette and I from engaging in a full-blown argument. I took a deep breath and returned to eating the little amount of food that I had. I was honestly relieved Keely had entered when she had, I wasn't in the mood to fight today. Not when the Reaping was only an hour away.

"We don't want any fights today, alright? Yvette, if you don't want it, fine. Give it to Anastasia and Julius instead. I don't food to be wasted just because you don't like it. After that, both of you need to get changed. None of us want to show up covered in dirt, now do we?"

I shook my head while Yvette rolled her eyes and picked up her plate reluctantly. "Fine." She mumbled as she left the room to go find Granny and Papa. They were the people Keely was talking about, our grandparents. But they we _very_ old by now and were almost on their deathbeds. It always upset me to think about that, so I avoided it as much as I could, even if I couldn't really save them from dying. I ate the rest of my food in silence as Keely went and got my youngest sister Nettie ready to come along with her to the Reapings. Keely was twenty and Nettie was ten so neither were qualified to be in the Reaping, but they needed to be present. Yvette and I were eligible though. I couldn't wait to turn nineteen, so I would be finished this horrible routine of watching two people leave our District and die. The Hunger Games were horrible things and I would always despise them. That hatred began the moment I heard my brother Christopher being Reaped during my very first Reaping. He never returned and because of that, I would always hate the Games and anyone who had anything to do with them. Of course, I didn't let the hatred consume me, that wouldn't do any good. Instead, I attempted to cheer my family up and keep things light after his death, trying to remain positive through the dark time. It mostly worked though there always would be that hole in our hearts left by him. I stood up suddenly and picked up my plate and washed it briefly in the sink before leaving it to dry. Now wasn't the time to think about Christopher. I had other things to think about. Finishing homework after the Reaping and meeting up with my best friends.

As I traveled back to my shared room with Nettie, I could hear Keely speaking quietly with my grandparents, telling them that we would only be gone for a short while. That's all I heard before I reached my room. It wasn't much due to our family being poor, it was pretty small and a little crowded with two beds and two wardrobes. But it was fine once you got used to it. I found the outfit that Keely had chosen for me laying on my bed, folded neatly with the shoes on the floor. It was a white summer dress with a pair of blue flats. It seemed so.. pure. I chuckled softly and unfolded the outfit, knowing that she had chosen it to preserve the innocence left in me. I threw on the outfit quickly and brushed my hair to tidy it up. I went into the bathroom before Yvette hogged it and surveyed myself once in the mirror to make sure I didn't look like a mess. My hair was short and black, just to my shoulders and was thankfully tidy after running a comb through it. I was happy that the dress fit me as I had always been skinny and short, so things would either be baggy or too long for me. But this was the perfect size. I smiled gently at my reflection, seeing the girl with light brown skin smile back at me with black eyes. I took a deep breath before I departed the bathroom and returned to the kitchen, where all my siblings were waiting. Keely smiled gently at me before she led us out of the house and towards the Square.

"Remember, just be polite and don't say anything to a Peacekeeper that you would regret." She stared directly at Yvette with an eyebrow raised before she continued to speak.

"Once this is all over, we can go home and have some fun. We can have a proper dinner because Mom and Dad have been saving up money for a while now." She sounded delighted to even say those words.

"But we have to focus on this right now. So like I said, behave and be polite." She repeated one last time as we reached the Square. It was prepared for the Reaping with the stage set out and screens set up. We only lived five minutes away from it so walking to it wasn't a problem. Keely hugged both Yvette and I before she shooed us to go check in. I purposely left Yvette to go find my friends, so I wouldn't have to listen to her constant whining, hearing ' _I hate this_ ' or ' _I hate everyone_ '. I didn't see anyone I knew as I waited in line, so I assumed my friends had already checked in. Once I reached the front, I just smiled at the Peacekeeper and held out my hand to let them prick my finger. It was over within moments and I brought myself to the fourteen-year-old section, hearing my name being called my two of my three friends, Angeline and Jocelyn. Theodore, my third friend, was in the boys section.

"Helena! Over here!" They both called, waving to me. I grinned widely and walked towards them, not in the mood to be told off for running. The moment I laid my eyes on the two, Angeline pulled a funny face and Jocelyn face-palmed at how immature she was acting. I burst into laughter as I reached the two, at both reactions. It would have been worse if Angeline was with Theodore though, the two were like five-year-olds together. Jocelyn was the only calm and mature one out of all of us. We all spoke and kept away from the real reason we were all here for, right up until we were silenced. The doors of our Justice Building opened up and out came the mayor of Eleven, alongside our only living Victor, Cyrus Black. And like always, our escort came out last. Eleven's escort, Junia Waiola, was dressed almost like a spaceship and I actually had to squint to look at her. She wore was wearing some metallic looking fabric and it definitely got her the attention she clearly wanted. I cringed as I heard her voice, hating how scratchy it sounded.

"Hello again, District Eleven! How wonderful it is to be back on such a beautiful day! It really compliments my outfit, don't you all think?" Junia was met with silence and she scowled at the fact that nobody appeared to like her outfit very much.

"Well, let's watch the usual video then." She said grumpily as the usual video about the rebellion played. Nobody paid too much attention to it and soon enough it was over and Junia was no longer bitter, back to her jumpy self once more.

"Okay, now that we have that over and done with, why don't we move onto the best part! Let's begin with.. the handsome young men!"

She strutted over to the boys bowl and beamed out to the crowd as she reached in and picked the first slip to touch her fingertips. She returned to the center of the stage with the same false smile and opened the slip.

"Our male tribute is.. Trey Cormick!"

The entire Square goes silent until footsteps can be heard slowly walking out of a section. I craned my neck to see who had be picked, pitying them. It was a boy from the eighteen-year-old section with dark skin, short black hair and brown eyes. He was pretty tall, he looked quite muscly so he must have worked in the fields doing something hard. He didn't seem very aware of what was going on though, he seemed a little like a zombie as he walked. He reached the stage after being guided up by Peacekeepers with a soft frown on his face.

"Well hello dear! You seem a little sleepy, poor you! So is there anything you would like to say to your wonderful District?"

The boy just shook his head and continued to look dazed, blinking far more than he should have. But then again, I was surprised he hadn't covered his eyes from being so close to Junia's shiny outfit.

"Oh, okay then. I guess we will just have to move onto our lovely ladies instead!"

She happily walked over to the girls bowl and stuck her hand right down, it looked like she wanted to pick a name from the very bottom. She finally chose a slip and returned to her place in the middle of the stage and grinned as she opened up the piece of paper and announced the name of the girl who would be entering a deathmatch.

"Our female tribute is.. Helena Patil!"

I felt my heart sinking down all the way to my feet as I heard the name that came from Junia's lips. I wanted to burst out crying, to collapse and sob. But I couldn't, not when it came to this. I couldn't look weak or defenceless. I had seen how that resulted in other Games with other tributes, boys and girls alike. I was still taking everything in though and blinked as I fully confirmed to myself that my name had been called and as a result, I giggled nervously. I could feel everyones eyes on me as I slowly left my spot and walked slowly towards the stage. I felt like I was almost under pressure as I walked up, attempting to hide my fear. When I finally reached the stage, Junia practically dragged me to the centre of the stage and beamed proudly out to the crowd.

"Ooh, look at you, so small! Would you like to say anything darling?" She shoved the microphone in my face and I bad to take a step back and shake my head to decline, not in a mood to speak to a crowd right now.

"There you have it ladies and gentlemen! Your tributes from District Eleven! Trey Cormick and Helena Patil!"

Junia turned us both and signalled for us to shake hands, so we did so, though the boy still seemed very unfocused and dazed right up until we were spilt apart to be put into separate goodbye rooms. I was in shock, I couldn't believe that now there had been two people from my family that had been Reaped. Christopher.. And then me. I didn't know what to feel just yet, about the entire situation that would be unfolding in front of me the moment I got on the train to the Capitol. But before I started to think too much about that, people came through the door of the goodbye room and pulled me into a hug. After a few moments, I registered the person to be Keely. I hugged her back with a weak smile as she began to cry.

"How could this happen? First Christopher, now you!" She was extremely upset about this, it seemed. But I didn't blame her. Yvette came in too, holding Nettie's hand. She seemed stunned, remaining silent as Keely spoke while hugging me.

"I-i.. I'm sorry, I'm a mess." She pulled back wiped away any tears that were on her face, smiling wearily at me. "Helena, you can do this. You don't need to kill, you could hide if you have to. Do what you can to keep yourself alive, okay?"

I nodded, unsure if I could survive the Games hiding. Gamemakers would just drag me out and make me fight like they had with other tributes in previous years. I didn't want to dismiss or ruin any of Keely's hopes though, she was almost like my mother, and I couldn't do that to her.

"I'll try as hard as I can. I promise. I'll do it for you all. I can't be killed that easily." I joked shakily, before Keely hugged me again. But what I realized was that there were two people missing from the room. My parents. They didn't even come to see me off?

"Where are-"

"I sent them home to look after Anastasia and Julius. I did what I thought was best."

I just nodded and pulled away from her, wishing that I could have seen them at least one more time. But before I could say anything to Nettie or Yvette, a Peacekeeper opened up the door and told us our time was up. I didn't want them to leave, because it meant I might not see them again. They were all escorted out despite all of their objections and the door was slammed behind them until it was opened up a few minutes later, my best friends entering. But everything else was like a blur to me. All I knew was that I was going into the Hunger Games. And whether or not I was coming back out, I didn't know.

 ** _Trey Cormick, Aged 18_**

I felt like I was going to pass out, I felt so exhausted. Even after being Reaped, I didn't know what to feel. Upset? Angry? I wasn't very sure. I forced myself to stay standing, because if I didn't, I was going to fall asleep on the couch that was provided in the room. As I expected, the first person to come visit me was my father. He didn't say anything, he just walked towards me and pulled me into a tight embrace. I was his only child and now I was leaving him, it had to be hard for him cope with. He pulled away after a few minutes and pat me on my shoulder as he looked me in the eyes.

"I am proud of you soon, I always will be. I just want you to know that before you leave." He told me sternly, making me smile at him.

"Thank you Dad. It means a lot." I replied quietly, wanting to know I appreciated what he said.

"I love you son. Remember that."

"..I love you. Thank you Dad, really." I pulled him into another hug and we remained like this before the Peacekeepers opened the door to take him out. He slowly took out a small glass frame from the pocket of his pants and handed it to me with a smile and pat my arm one last time before turning and leaving. I looked down to see what he had given me and once I figured it out, I couldn't help but tear up a little. It was my most expensive possession, the object I valued most. A Diana Fritillary butterfly. I was so proud of it, I had caught it myself. I still remember that day, I felt so proud of myself. I wanted to keep it preserved though so I traded a pair of socks that I owned for a small glass case to put it in. I pocketed the small case and smiled to myself at the memory, thankful that my father had thought to get it to give it to me. It was my token to remind me of home.

Next to come in was Sol and Mal. They both ran into the room and pulled me quickly into a group hug. I let out a surprised noise but laughed weakly and hugged them both back before we all pulled back.

"Trey, I can't believe that.." Mal looked stunned, looking at me with a look of sorrow.

"I'm sorry dude, I'm sorry I didn't volunteer and how I acted earlier, I-"

"Guys, it's okay. I'll be okay." I tried to reassure the two so they wouldn't break down or blame themselves. That's the last thing I wanted them to do.

"After all, I am pretty strong. I can use that in the Games, right? I won't be leaving without a fight, I promise you guys." I said with a positive attitude, smiling at the two.

They both laughed weakly and nodded, trying to pick the mood up too.

"I expect loads of sponsors Trey, none less than twenty." Sol joked, causing us to all laugh, slowly raising the mood. Almost like none of this was happening.

Next thing I knew, my two closest friends were gone and I was all alone to finally think about this, about what was happening and about my strategy. I sat down on the couch and thought to myself about what to do, what I would do for the interview, if I should have an ally. But as I thought more about all of that, the couch seemed to get softer and softer. And just like that, my eyes slid shut and I let out a sigh before _finally_ falling asleep.

 ** _A/N: Hey guys! Here's District Eleven up, meaning only one more district is left! Then the Games start! So, first of all I would like to thank flowersnowgirl and LadyCordeliaSturat for these tributes! I hope I wrote them well, that I didn't mess them up! So, onto the questions!_**

 ** _1\. What did you guys think of Helena?_**

 ** _2\. What did you think of Trey?_**

 ** _3\. Any predictions yet for any tributes?_**

 ** _4\. Do you guys have any idea the arena might be yet?_**

 ** _Now, with this finished, I can get to the final Reaping and then we are onto the train rides and finally starting the Games! So, I'll see you all in District Twelve for the final Reapings!_**


	14. Chapter 14 - District Twelve Reapings

_**District 12**_

 _ **Jade Coal, Aged 17**_

"Jade, you need to stop this foolishness." The typical scolding began as I was sat down at the table. I rolled my eyes and sighed and prepared myself to hear the usual things my father said about my behaviour.

"You are the mayor's daughter for goodness sake, you need to start acting like that. You need to start behaving and earning the respect of your peers instead of running into trouble."

I folded my arms across my chest and raised an eyebrow at my father as I listened to him babble for the tenth time about how my friends were bad influences and about how I needed to actually mature. I sat there silently and let him spill everything out before I spoke.

"I'm not ditching my friends for the few rich snobs that live around here. Sophie and Emma _are_ my friends, no matter what you think. Besides, it wasn't like we were doing anything that bad, the Peacekeepers here are assh-"

"That's enough, Jade. I don't want to hear any vile words come from that mouth of yours."

I shot a look over to my mother in hopes she would help defend me in some way but she just sat there with a stupid stern look on her face. So I let out an irritated sigh and stood up to leave the room, a scowl resting on my face.

"They aren't a bad influence on me."

"Just go get changed. I have to prepare for the Reaping in a short while and the last thing I want is to be arguing with you."

"Ooh, excuse me, I don't want to get in the way of two kids going to die, sorry." I answered back sarcastically and pushed my chair in, making sure that it made as much noise as possible.

"Jade, watch your mouth." My mother commented.

I just shook my head again and left the room without another word, not wanting to deal with them both. Not today anyways. Today was the worst day of the year, at I thought so. Reaping day, the beginning of those sick Games. I brought myself up to my room with a frown on my face as I thought about the Games. I had just had to get past this year and next year, and I was free. But then I needed to start preparing myself to take over as mayor from my father. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to take his place until he and my mother passed away. I honestly didn't feel ready for the position. I passed by a maid in the process of going up to my room, ignoring any of her attempts to talk. I needed to get dressed so I didn't have to deal with any more of ' _This is stressful for me and you don't help it!_ '. I walked straight into my room once I reached it and slammed the door in hopes my parents would hear before I sighed again and ran a hand through my dark, blonde hair. My parents weren't usually very stern, they looked out for me and tried to take care of me as well as they could. The day of the Reapings just put pressure on them and just caused them to grow restless and frustrated. My rebellious attitude just broke at the worst of times, though.

As I searched through my closet, I realized that I hadn't even done my daily workout and I wouldn't be able to until after the Reaping. Just yet another annoying thing about those vile Games. Delaying exercising was something that always bothered me, but just to stand around like idiots made things feel even worse. You needed to be fit and healthy to train after all. There were always benefits to being related to the mayor and what I got out of it was training, in case I was ever Reaped. It was slim, considering the amount of people in Twelve that took out terrasse every year. I never needed to, and in with all the other names, mine being called was next to none. I was brought back to reality when I heard a knock at my door and my mother's voice. "Jade, are you ready?"

"No, I just walked in, I'll be out in a minute." I replied and rolled my eyes yet again, returning to searching for something to wear. I eventually chose a red shirt, some ripped skinny jeans and a black leather jacket. Suited my personality. Perfect. I threw them on and left my hair down, not bothered to do anything with it. I opened up my door and found that my mother had left, probably to go help my father get ready. I just rolled my eyes yet again and decided that it was the best to just leave and get to the Reaping to get it over and done with. Even though I lived right at the Square, I thought it was better to be early. Being late wasn't something anyone wanted to be. Not many people were around and I couldn't see Emma or Sophie. Thoughts of making a visit to the Hob came to mind, but I knew that if I did go visit, I would get distracted and wouldn't get back in time. I went there frequently so most stall owners knew me, which would probably add to the factor of being late. So instead of checking in, I sat for a short while, watching as the Square slowly began to fill up with children of Twelve. I only stood up when I saw Emma checking in and made my way into the queue. I checked in and followed Emma right to our section where I jumped and grabbed her in an attempt to scare her since she clearly didn't notice that I was behind her. She screamed and turned around to hit me, her face as red as a tomato, making things even funnier.

"Jade, geez! Don't scare me like that!" She scolded me as I laughed hard, a wide grin across my face.

"Don't be scared so easily!" I retaliated back at her and winked moving us both properly into our section so we wouldn't get yelled at by Peacekeepers. The thing I needed was my father telling me off for annoying some Peacekeeper for not getting into place.

Emma pushed me and rolled her eyes and I pushed her back with a proud smile resting on my face. We always did things like this to mess around with each other or annoy each other in some way. We always knew that whatever we did was always just a joke so none of us ever got hurt.

"So, can you tell me where Sophie is?" I asked as I searched for the third member of our group in the crowd of people from Seam and merchants.

"Nope, I haven't spoken with her since yesterday. She said she would be here first, but that was the biggest lie I've ever heard from her so far."

At this rate, if Sophie would be late if she wasn't here in a few minutes and that was the last thing she wanted to happen, like I had said earlier.

"Well she better hurry up 'cause the Reapings aren't going to stop just for her." I muttered and stretched, already starting to feel stiff. I just wanted this stupid thing to begin already so I could actually go train and enjoy the rest of my day.

The Square was packed by now and the last people were signing in and there was still no sight of Sophie. That was until she came dashing around the corner frantically to check in. She was the last person to check in and she knew it, blushing a deep red as she spotted us and walked over. Emma and I couldn't stop our giggles as Sophie stood beside us with a bitter expression resting on her face.

"Shut up before I punch both of you in the gut." She growled at us, shoving Emma so she hit me, but we still continued to giggle until the doors of the Justice Building opened. We quietened down quickly so it didn't seem as if we were laughing at my father.

He was the first person to come out, followed by Twelve's only living Victor, Ash Ford and then finally our escort, Paavo Ichiro. He looked like an idiot and seeing him dressed made me want to actually shoot myself on the spot. He was a tanned and tall man with the sides of his head shaved and the remaining hair looked almost like a blonde quiff. He had the same shade of blonde in his eyebrows. He has dramatic makeup on, a bright pink eyeshadow covering his eyelids and the same colour lipstick. He was wearing a purple waistcoat and some tight purple pants with pink stripes going across them, and to finish it off, he had some heels that made him look taller than he already was. Altogether he looked atrocious and was an eyesore to just look at.

"Hello again District Twelve! How have all of you darlings been, I know I've been doing fantastic." He laughed as if he had told some brilliant, witty joke.

"Now, we all know why you are all here so let's go watch our boring video so we can carry on to my favourite part of the Games!"

I held back a groan and just glanced over at Emma and poked her to keep myself occupied while the video was playing. She poked me back and we began a poking war until we heard Paavo speaking again, who had already started walking over to the boys bowl.

"Now, let's begin with the boys! You ladies had it first last year!"

He grinned out to the crowd of children and reached inside of the bowl without even looking which slip he was picking up before he returned to the middle of the stage and unfolded the piece of paper and announced which boy had just been Reaped.

"Jim Robin!"

There was a few moments of silence before footsteps can be heard accompanied by the sound of crying. A young boy from the twelve-year-old section made his way up to the stage, crying as he looked for someone to help him, pleading for someone to volunteer. But the Square remained silent as he walked up to the stage. Well, he was basically dragged by a Peacekeeper. But I noticed just as the boy had reached the stage that he had a slight limp. That wouldn't benefit him when he went into the Games. I honestly pitied him, he wouldn't survive. As he stood beside Paavo, the boy looked very pale, like he was going to throw up. Just as Paavo opens his mouth to speak to the boy, the twelve-year-old suddenly fainted, causing him to fall off as he had been standing close to the edge of the stage. Paavo yelped and some of the crowd yelled in horror and concern for the boy as Peacekeepers rushed over to help him.

"Damn, do you think he's going to be okay?" Sophie asked, looking shocked as she watched the Peacekeepers.

"He had a nasty fall." I added, trying to see if he had hit his head or anything like that.

"He has to be, the Capitol can't have a tribute die before the actual Games." Emma spoke quietly and watched intently as the Peacekeepers brought him back up to the stage, sitting him on a chair but one of them remaining beside him just in case.

Paavo returned to his job, smiling out at us as he walked over to the girls bowl and spoke, though his voice was clearly shaky. "A-and now, for the girls."

He glanced over at the bowl, to sure he didn't knock it over as he his hands were now shaking. He drew a slip from the bowl and walked back to the microphone before opening up the slip slowly and reading over it before opening his mouth to reveal who it was.

"Jade Coal!"

My father jumped to his feet in shock but all I could feel was hatred and bitterness when I heard my name. Why did it have to be me? Out of the entire District? I felt everyone slowly beginning to turn to stare at me so I started to storm towards the stage, flipping off the camera when it pointed at me. I cursed the entire way up to the stage, ignoring everyone who stared at me on the way up, including my father.

"Well, aren't you a feisty girl!" Paavo said with an excited tone as he brought me to the centre of the stage, beaming widely at me. "Is there anything you would like to say?"

When he shoved the microphone in my face, I cursed into it and smirked when he yanked it away, with the expression of disbelief.

"Well, um.. there you have it, everyone. Our.. exciting tributes from District Twelve, Jim Robin and Jade Coal.."

 ** _Jim Robin, Aged 12_**

I sat up from my bed, feeling just as exhausted as I had the previous night. I went to bed early the previous night in hopes of sleeping somewhat better than I usually did, but to no avail. My sleep was broken and I woke up at four times during the night which was close to my record of waking up six times before. I yawned as I pushed the thin duvet off of my and stretched my arms and legs before I yawned once again. I didn't want to get up at all, I wanted to curl up in my bed until I fell back to sleep. But that was something I couldn't do, not today. Mom wouldn't let it happen because today was my first year of being eligible for the Hunger Games. I never had really cared about the Games growing up, I never thought that they mattered that much but it still didn't stop me from feeling nervous and sick. I didn't want to get Reaped, even if I didn't care much for the Games. I'm sure everyone else at Twelve thought the same thing.

I wasn't aware of what time it was, but it had to be around eight in the morning if I had to guess from how high the sun was. I stood up and picked up the clothes I had worn the previous day. A thin, long sleeved shirt and some patched up pants. And of course, my trusty glasses. I didn't complain about how they looked or how thin it was because my family didn't have much money and spending the little money we had on clothes wasn't a luxury we could afford. Every piece of money we could get our hands on went directly towards food to feed us all. My family wasn't a big one though and I was thankful for that. It was just my mom and dad, me, and my six-year-old brother Sam. A small family of four. After I pulled on my clothes I grabbed a cloth I had left by my bedside and slipped it into my pocket and left my room in search of a bucket. I wanted to take advantage of today by cleaning as many shoes as I could for Peacekeepers as possible so I could earn at least a little bit of money today. I had no school because of the Reaping and once it finished I could continue to clean shoes and hopefully earn some money.

Nobody else seemed to be up so I searched silently for the bucket and filled it up with cold water before I left the house quietly to go to the Square, or near the Hob. Somewhere that Peacekeepers would pass me by and maybe stop for the chance to get their shoes cleaned. I traveled right to the Square and sat down on some nearby rocks and waited patiently. That's all I could do besides hope they would stop. An hour passed and I watched people and Peacekeepers alike pass by as I waited until finally, one walked up to me.

"What are you sitting around for boy?" A stern female voice came from behind the helmet of the Peacekeeper.

"For someone to stop and have their shoes cleaned." I replied and smiled hopefully up at her. "Would you like to have your shoes washed? It doesn't cost much."

The Peacekeeper remained silent for a few moments before she knocked over my bucket of water and took it, looking down at me, trying to intimidate me. She had succeeded in doing so.

"Don't let me spot you doing this again. You have no permission to be doing something like this and if I catch you again, I will drag to the Square and whip you." She sounded merciless and it terrified me to think she would do something so violent for such a small thing. Especially someone my age too.

I just nodded with a fearful look and my face before glancing down at the ground and fiddling with my hands. "Yes ma'am.." I mumbled quietly and avoided any eye contact with her until she left. I could feel tears stinging my eyes as I watched her walk away, as I felt anger build up in me. I had found that bucket a long time ago and I had cleaned it and used it ever since. And she took it from me and would probably crush it without so much as a second thought. I stood up and stormed home, wiping my eyes before anyone saw me crying. I wasn't in the mood to explain why. Now my only method of helping provide my family had been snatched off of me and I was left with nothing but my cloth. Once I got back home, I went straight back to my room and threw myself onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling as I wiped my eyes again. I would just have to find another bucket, maybe try and save up to buy one from someone around the Hob. But that would take a very long while to do so. I heard a gentle knock on my door before it was opened and my mom stepped in.

"Jim, are you awake?" She spoke softly, a gentle smile on her face.

"Yeah, have been for the past hour." It was best not to mention what had happened with that Peacekeeper.

"Oh, you must be wide awake then." In her hands she held my Reaping outfit, which looked pretty nice, considering we didn't have much money. "Here, wear these." She walked over to my bed and placed the folded clothes down before she patted my shoulder, seeming ever-so-slightly worried. "Try not to worry about today, you should be fine, okay?"

I nodded and smiled back at her before she left and ran a hand through my tightly cropped, short black hair. There was no point trying to put off the inevitable so I sat myself up and stripped quickly and pulled on the clothes that had been picked for me. What I had on was a blue, torn shirt that had been patched up but was several sizes too big for me and some black threadbare cord pants. It was as nice as things got for a family such as mine suffering from the poverty that struck throughout Twelve. After adjusting my glasses, I left my room to join my mom in the kitchen, discovering that Sam was up too.

"Hey, buddy." I said with a large smile as I sat down at the small kitchen table we had.

"Hi!" His expression was full of happiness but it quickly changed to one of confusion as he realized I was dressed fancier than normal.

"Why are you wearing that? You look silly!"

I paused to think of how to explain the Games to my six-year-old brother but ended up just shaking my head, far too tired to properly explain what it was and why I was dressed like this.

"It's easier to explain it when you're older. You'll understand better."

"Oh..okay!" Sam was so innocent, it crushed me to think that we would probably have to tell him what the games were really about next year. My parents told me when I was seven so I expected they would do the same with him. In a world like this one, innocence was dangerous. It could get you killed. Finally, my dad entered the kitchen with a worn out expression. He seemed unusually tidy, along with my mom.

"Now that your father's ready, we should get going. None of us want to be late, Jim more than any of us." She gave me another concerned glance before taking Sam by the hand and walking outside with him.

I smiled feebly over at my dad, who returned the smile and patted my back before guiding me outside and towards the Square. Once we arrived, I could feel how tense the atmosphere was, causing my nerves to rocket sky-high. I heard my dad mutter something about staying quiet into my ear before he turned and left me on my own to check in by myself. I stood still for a few moments, unsure of what to do, I could feel my hands shaking until I felt a hand pat my arm. I jumped and turned to see who had touched me, discovering that it was my closest friend, Robert Lee. He was my age too, so it was his first year too. But he seemed far more confident than me almost all the time.

"You look nervous."

"I am."

"Well, standing here isn't going to do anything. Let's check in before the Peacekeepers get pissed off. I'll go in front of you to make you feel better." He smiled at me reassuringly and I nodded with a weary smile and walked with him to check in. While we waited in line I stared up at the stage, my stomach doing flips as I thought about actually being in all of this. I was snapped out of my sickness when I felt a sharp nudge to my stomach from Robert who was grinning and looking back at me.

"Take a look who's in the next line." He whispered before he moved forward to check in, leaving me next in line. I glanced over to my left to spot Joyce Sarah, the girl who I had the biggest crush on. And Robert was well aware of that. I blushed bright red and turned my glance back in front of me, where it was my turn to check in. I didn't want Joyce to think I was some weirdo staring at her. I stepped forward and held out my hand, like Robert had done, and waited for the Peacekeeper to take my blood. They pricked my finger quickly before doing something weird with it and told me to go to the twelve-year-olds section. I nodded and left without a word, scanning the area for Robert until I spotted him waving at me. I rushed towards him and kept my eyes solely on him until I reached him, standing beside him and staying still. Robert tried to get me to speak, but I just shook my head at him to show I wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. If I felt like if I opened my mouth to say anything I was going to vomit all over the place. Eventually, the doors of the Justice Building opened to reveal the mayor of Twelve, our only living Victor and then the District escort, Paavo Ichiro. I was far too nervous to actually concentrate on what he was saying until I saw him walking towards the bowl that was filled with boys names. Including mine. I watched intently as he reached into the bowl and pulled out a name, praying with all of my strength it wasn't my name. He neared the microphone, unfolded the slip, opened his mouth and...

"Jim Robin!"

For a few short moments, it felt like time had stopped after hearing Paavo say my name. It didn't last forever though, it couldn't and soon people began to turn and stare. So I started to move, tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn't stop them this time, there was no way to. I let the tears run down as my face as I came to the realization nobody was volunteering for me.

"Somebody, help me! Volunteer! Please!" I felt hands being wrapped around my arms, meaning that a Peacekeeper was going to take me up.

"I'm only twelve! Please! I don't want to die! Help me!" I yelled with terror in my voice, unable to stop my tears. "Please!" I pleaded until I reached the stage with the 'help' of the Peacekeeper who let go of me so I could climb up the steps onto the stage. I felt like throwing up all over the floor, over everyone. But I kept it down as I walked up the steps slowly, wiping my puffy eyes as I walked over to Paavo who was looking at me with the expression of slight shock. But when I faced the crowd, everyone was staring at me, watching me, looking for my flaws and putting me under pressure. I couldn't handle that type of pressure, knowing everyone was watching me. Not just here, but all over Panem. I could feel my breathing getting quicker and I couldn't manage to slow down in any way. I felt lightheaded as I turned to look at Paavo who opened his mouth to speak but that was the last I saw of him. Or anything. Because right after he opened his mouth, everything went black. When I opened my eyes again, I felt a painful throb coming from the front of my head and I was surrounded by darkness. After coming to my senses, I noticed I was on something moving. A train.. I had missed the visits? No, no, no! I sat up and felt a little dizzy but brushed it off, I had missed out on the last chance to probably ever talk to my parents and Sam ever again. I hid my face in my hands as I thought about them, my loving family. I already missed them. I eventually curled up on the bed and wrapped the thick blankets around me until I felt something sticking into my leg, like I was laying on something. I sat up and felt around to discover that something was in my pocket. A small, wooden rabbit. I knew it was from my family and it made me smile knowing that I had some piece of them with me. I heard paper crumbling while taking out the wooden rabbit so I pulled out the small piece of paper from my pocket and read the words that had been written on it.

 _'We believe in you and love you very much. We will always be proud of you.'_

Reading that made me burst into tears once again, clinging tightly to the piece of paper. I truly missed my family and my friends. I wanted to go back home. But there was no way I was returning home. No matter how much people had in me. I was dead the minute my name was called.

 _ **Jade Coal, Aged 17**_

It wasn't fair. Out of all the girls names that could have been chosen, mine had to come out of the bowl. I didn't even have a partner that was my age or was strong in any way. I had a scrawny, twelve-year-old who I couldn't help but pity. It was obvious that my parents were just as upset as I was when they entered the room, my father fuming and my mother in tears.

"How can they do this?! This is an outrage! They can't do this to you, they can't just snatch you away from us!" My father roared in fury as he paced back and forth, his face bright red. I didn't have it in me to make some sarcastic remark, not while he was like that. My mother clung to me as she sobbed, holding me tightly like I was a little child. It made me feel uncomfortable and a little irritated but I let her off with doing it because I was leaving them both to go to join twenty-three other kids in some arena of death.

"Please, p-please try your hardest Jade, w-we love y-you so much." My mother begged as I rubbed her back gently in an attempt to calm her down. I just nodded yet again and remained silent as my father continued his rant, though nobody was listening to him. I was still taking things in, though as I slowly began to accept what had happened, I could feel my anger boiling under the surface. I thought I hated the Capitol before but when I heard my name, a whole new feeling of hatred took over me.

"I'll live, you know that. I don't just go without a fight, you know that." I said quietly with a soft smile on my face. "Don't worry about me. Worry about the other tributes surviving against me." I needed to be confident, be myself once I got to the Capitol. How else was I going to survive in the arena? Before I knew it, out time was up and my parents were dragged out unwillingly. I sighed and flopped down on the leather couch behind me and ran a hand through my hair. I needed to sleep more than anything, I suddenly felt drained of all my energy. I wanted to sleep and deal with all of this tomorrow, but things really didn't seem to be working out for me, did they? Not long after my parents had been dragged from the room, the doors opened again and Sophie and Emma ran in and threw themselves on top of me to hug me. I yelped in shock and felt as the two crushed me and began to panic as they were stopping me from breathing. After a moment of struggling, they both jumped up off the couch so I could actually breathe once again.

"J-Jade, we are so sorry that we didn't volunteer we just.." Emma started with a shaky voice.

"We were too scared to do it. Neither of us could make it half as far as you could." Sophie finished off the sentence but avoided making any eye contact with me. She seemed ashamed.

I remained silent as I thought to myself, unsure whether I was relieved or furious they hadn't volunteered but I eventually concluded that I was thankful that neither had volunteered in my place. If one of them had died in my place, I would never get over it.

"It's okay. It's better than you guys didn't." I paused to think of a way to lighten the mood and smiled confidently at the two. "Now you guys get to watch me kick ass 'professionally'. It's gonna be great." They both stared at me with surprise at how positive I was being but grinned back at me within a few minutes. I may have been exhausted, I may have been furious at the Capitol, I may have been feeling all these emotions at once but when I saw my best friends grinning and having fun with me, happiness was the emotion that always took control. So when Peacekeepers came in to take Sophie and Emma out, none of us were crying or screaming. We were laughing and joking around. Because that's how I wanted to spend my last time with my friends. Whether I got back from the Capitol or not.

 _ **A/N: Sooo, the Reapings are finally done! Aahh! Now we get to the parts leading up to the Games and then the Games itself! So now, all tributes have been introduced! I'll be putting up a poll to see who you guys like the most out of all the tributes we have! Anyways, thank you to calebbeers21 for both tributes! They went over the limit of submitting a certain amount of tributes but only because they kindly sent in bloodbaths! But which tributes are and aren't bloodbaths I'm not revealing! Until the Bloodbath, that is. So, that is that, the Reapings are finally finished and now train rides begin. I will get it out as soon as I can! The reason this was slow was because I got a new laptop but at the same time my phone broke so a new one was needed. And just to add, when Jim wakes up, he's already on the train so he couldn't say his goodbyes, just in case it wasn't clear! So, to the questions!**_

 _ **1\. What did you think of Jade?**_

 _ **2\. What did you think of Jim?**_

 _ **3\. Did either make an impression?**_

 _ **4\. Favourite tribute?**_

 _ **And with all Reapings done, I will see all of you guys in part one of the train rides!**_


	15. Update on Things

_**So, I'm gonna say this first before anyone assumes. I am not giving this SYOT up, I'm not just make up a summary and leave it at that. I** **absolutely** **hate when that happens and would rather take two years doing this than just summing things up. I apologize to you all for me inactive with the SYOT, I have been working on the Train Rides but I've had little to no time to write. When I do, I am extremely unmotivated. School work is my main focus right now, as I need to learn everything I will need for big exams next year. And I won't even begin to touch the topic of my mental health currently. As a result, I'm going to have to put the SYOT on hiatus for the foreseeable future, until I become more available and can healthier mentally. I may update once or twice, based on**_ _**when I'm free or how I'm feeling. I will make sure announce** **when I am coming off of hiatus so you guys know, but for now, I can't. I will probably be active with reviews in SYOT's I've submitted to, but that's about it. Thank you all for being so patient with me and I hope to be able to return soon.**_

 _ **Love you guys,**_

 _ **Art**_


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